Leftists regard space as a part of the “celestial commons.” Space, they claim, belongs to all of mankind and private interests should not benefit from what belongs to everyone. Any wealth generated from activities in space should be shared with all of mankind. The celestial commons should not be “enclosed” by establishing property rights in space.
Senator Bernie Sanders has criticized the efforts of both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Frankly, it is not acceptable…that the two wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos, take control of our space efforts to return to the moon. This is not something for two billionaires to be directing; this is something for the American people to be determining.
According to Sanders and his fellow travelers, since space is the province of mankind, anything done in space should be democratically controlled. Presumably, demagogues like Sanders would be elected to oversee space activities.
The Left has long been pushing for the democratization of the universe. In the 1960s, underdeveloped countries formed a coalition in the United Nations called the Group of 77. This bloc hoped to “spread the economic benefits of the commons more equitably, with special attention to less developed nations.”
For these countries — as well as for the nervous US business interests that opposed them — their plan to “socialize the moon,” as some put it at the time, was the first step toward a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and power in human society.
In 1973, India proposed an amendment to the Outer Space Treaty (which currently governs space law) “that called for equitable sharing of space benefits, particularly with developing countries.” These proposals are nothing more than an attempt to redistribute wealth.
Leftists believe that recognizing property rights in space will lead to more wealth inequality. The masses can only gaze up at the stars while a small number of wealthy individuals will be traveling among the stars. Property rights in space
could mean the concentration of even more wealth and income in the hands of a few powerful corporations and the most technologically advanced countries. At the same time, and for the same reasons, the prospect of preserving the final frontier as a celestial commons presents an opportunity to fight for a more democratic political economy.
The Left’s focus isn’t on developing the vast potential offered by space. Instead, its focus is on controlling the efforts of those who are successfully venturing into the final frontier. They want to use that control to require an “equitable” distribution of the wealth generated from the “celestial commons.” And that gets to the moral premise underlying the Left’s position on property rights in space.
The Property Rights in Space Series
6 comments
Comments are closed.