Now that I am well into my 40’s, I’ve reached the age where I’m starting to think about what I want to do when I retire. Taking into account how I have come to feel about my fellow man and the state of the world in general, I think I am going to want to spend my golden years in a nice private place far away from the noise, pollution, crime, and general unpleasantness one is forced to bear when living in close quarters with other humans.
I think that I have found the perfect place. I am going to retire on Mars.
I have to thank the two scientists who published an article about Mars colonization in the latest issue of the Journal of Cosmology for inspiring this idea. In their article “To Boldly Go” they suggest that we should modify our thinking about taking a trip to the red planet. Instead of just visiting Mars, they believe that we should plan on going there to stay.
I admit that it sounds crazy at first blush, and a lot of people (including the bigwigs at NASA) are dismissing the idea out of hand. But they do make some good points in support of their proposal, and I think we should hear them out.
They point out, for instance, that a one-way trip would be vastly cheaper than a round trip, and one can’t underestimate financial considerations in these difficult economic times. The authors believe that we could save up to 80% on the total cost of the expedition because we wouldn’t need the extra equipment and fuel required for a return trip. Supply ships could be sent out to the colonists periodically, but again that could be done relatively cheaply since those ships don’t have to come back.
Aside from the cost, the authors suggest that we consider the trip to Mars to be not just a visit, but a colonization effort. There is always the chance that life on Earth could be unexpectedly wiped out by disease, an asteroid strike, or some other calamity. As it stands now, if that were to happen humanity would simply cease to exist.
Having colonists on another planet would give humanity a backup plan for survival. The Earth has been very good to us so far, but it is never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
But who would want to leave the earth without a possibility of ever returning, you might ask. The authors have thought about this, and they suggest that we only send people who are getting up there in years, perhaps in their 60s. It is unlikely that those first pioneers would enjoy a terribly long lifespan because of radiation exposure and lack of professional medical care, so you probably wouldn’t get too many volunteers in their 20s.
And that’s where my retirement plan comes in. The scientists believe we could be ready for such a voyage in about 20 years, and by then I’ll be in my mid 60s and likely ready to leave the rat race. Instead of getting a trailer in Florida, I’m going to reserve a space on a ship bound for Mars. Finally, at long last, I will be able to enjoy some peace and quiet, far away from budget deficits and global warming and crazy people who want to blow us all to pieces.
I’ve discussed this idea with my family and friends, and they all seem to be surprisingly supportive of the idea of me leaving the planet, never to return. They have even offered to help me pack and drive me to the space dock when the time comes. It is truly touching to know that the people around me are so willing to help me achieve my dream.
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My book “An Army of Principles”, a collection of some of my favorite columns from over the years, is now available on amazon.com.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
One last chance
It would seem that change is in the air. Again.
Voters fed up with Obama and the Democrats’ march towards socialism “sent a message” to Washington this week by calling up an army of new Republican congressmen to take the place by storm and (presumably) tilt the country back to the right. I guess we showed them, didn’t we?
Wait a second, didn’t we just “show them” two years ago when we sent Obama and an army of new Democratic congressmen to Washington to shake things up after we’d had our fill of George W. Bush and a GOP congress? And it doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that Newt Gingrich and his band of merry men promised to change the culture in Washington and get the country headed in the right direction during the last Republican revolution. They are all so full of promises on the campaign trail, but they never seem to deliver on them once they are handed the key to the castle.
Call me cynical if you want, but it seems to me that no matter which party we turn to when we are tired of the status quo, things don’t really change all that much. The federal government is a big, bloated monster that seems to assimilate whoever we send to Washington into its hive-mind and turn them into slaves to special interest groups and deep-pocketed lobbyists. They seem to forget about us pretty quickly once they put us in their rearview mirror.
But maybe this time it will be different. Some of the Republicans who won office this week were Tea Party-backed candidates who have promised, at long last, to scale back the size and scope of the federal government and reign in all that deficit spending. I’ve heard that promise out of Republicans before, but they haven’t backed the talk with any real action for a very long time.
I’ve harped on the national debt issue for as long as I’ve been writing this column (12 years and counting), so if anyone wants to believe the GOP when they say that this time they are serious about getting our financial house in order, it’s me. But trust is a hard thing to win back when it has been betrayed.
I made the mistake of believing in them when they had control of the White House and congress, and what did they deliver to us? The massive deficit spending that occurred under their watch for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on recovering from Hurricane Katrina may or may not have been ”mandatory”, but they also increased spending on things like education and Medicare even as all that emergency spending was going on. The plain truth is that the last time Republicans had power they proved themselves to be no more responsible with our money than the Democrats had been, and in fact you could make the case that they were even worse overall.
I for one, felt very let down by that experience, and I will admit that I’ve voted for a lot of Libertarians since then. But in this election, for the first time in a very long time, I voted a near straight ticket for the Republicans. I have decided to give them one last chance.
If they will live up to the ideals that they claim to stand for – limited government, responsible financial management, and respect for the Constitution, I will return to the fold. But if they let me down one more time, I can promise you it will be the last time. I won’t get fooled again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A collection of some of my favorite columns from over the years is now available in book form. You can order a copy at the following web site: https://www.createspace.com/3491918. It will also soon be available on Amazon.com.
Voters fed up with Obama and the Democrats’ march towards socialism “sent a message” to Washington this week by calling up an army of new Republican congressmen to take the place by storm and (presumably) tilt the country back to the right. I guess we showed them, didn’t we?
Wait a second, didn’t we just “show them” two years ago when we sent Obama and an army of new Democratic congressmen to Washington to shake things up after we’d had our fill of George W. Bush and a GOP congress? And it doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that Newt Gingrich and his band of merry men promised to change the culture in Washington and get the country headed in the right direction during the last Republican revolution. They are all so full of promises on the campaign trail, but they never seem to deliver on them once they are handed the key to the castle.
Call me cynical if you want, but it seems to me that no matter which party we turn to when we are tired of the status quo, things don’t really change all that much. The federal government is a big, bloated monster that seems to assimilate whoever we send to Washington into its hive-mind and turn them into slaves to special interest groups and deep-pocketed lobbyists. They seem to forget about us pretty quickly once they put us in their rearview mirror.
But maybe this time it will be different. Some of the Republicans who won office this week were Tea Party-backed candidates who have promised, at long last, to scale back the size and scope of the federal government and reign in all that deficit spending. I’ve heard that promise out of Republicans before, but they haven’t backed the talk with any real action for a very long time.
I’ve harped on the national debt issue for as long as I’ve been writing this column (12 years and counting), so if anyone wants to believe the GOP when they say that this time they are serious about getting our financial house in order, it’s me. But trust is a hard thing to win back when it has been betrayed.
I made the mistake of believing in them when they had control of the White House and congress, and what did they deliver to us? The massive deficit spending that occurred under their watch for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on recovering from Hurricane Katrina may or may not have been ”mandatory”, but they also increased spending on things like education and Medicare even as all that emergency spending was going on. The plain truth is that the last time Republicans had power they proved themselves to be no more responsible with our money than the Democrats had been, and in fact you could make the case that they were even worse overall.
I for one, felt very let down by that experience, and I will admit that I’ve voted for a lot of Libertarians since then. But in this election, for the first time in a very long time, I voted a near straight ticket for the Republicans. I have decided to give them one last chance.
If they will live up to the ideals that they claim to stand for – limited government, responsible financial management, and respect for the Constitution, I will return to the fold. But if they let me down one more time, I can promise you it will be the last time. I won’t get fooled again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A collection of some of my favorite columns from over the years is now available in book form. You can order a copy at the following web site: https://www.createspace.com/3491918. It will also soon be available on Amazon.com.
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