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Donald Trump Thinks Going To Mars Would Be "Wonderful" But There Is a Catch
MarkWhittington writes: Donald Trump, the mercurial real estate tycoon and media personality who, much to the surprise of one and all, has become the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president opened his mind just a little about his attitude toward space exploration, according to a story in Forbes. In an answer to a question put to him about sending humans to Mars, the current focus at NASA, Trump said, "Honestly, I think it's wonderful; I want to rebuild our infrastructure first, ok? I think it's wonderful." In other words, dreams of going to Mars must take a back seat to more Earthly concerns. It is not an answer many space exploration supporters want to hear.
Many people would like to see Donald Trump go to Mars.
But the Martians would probably consider him to be an illegal alien and might expect us to pay to put up a wall to keep him out.
Reality TV star Donald Trump advising us on space exploration...who could possibly object to that?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
We spend next to nothing on space exploration. The tons of waste and needless pork projects in government needs to go first. If trump is half as capable at business as he claims then there should be plenty of surplus to do both without cutting funding or raising taxes.
Don't worry. When it comes time for the Florida primary, he (along with every other candidate) will be competing to come up with the most amazing program ever. After the primary, it will be forgotten until the next election.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Someone should summarize Gerard K. O'Neills " The high Frontier" for this guy - and other candidates.
It's be interesting if any of them really get it and agree with the core concepts
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashdot.org Errors found while checking this document as HTML5!
Sure, we're doomed here, global warming and all that bs... and colonization/terraforming is a while away from now, so we should deal with our crap at home then think about getting off this stinking rock.
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
But it is one of the most reasonable things that he has said recently.
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
...if he goes, i'm all for it!
He's 100% right. The money the spent on a Mars trip would be better served fixing our crumbling infrastructure. What's the point of sending humans to mars when people die from bad roads and failing bridges everyday?
Of course the same could be said about throwing trillions at the F-35.
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
> In other words, dreams of going to Mars must take a back seat to more Earthly concerns. It is not an answer many space exploration supporters want to hear.
That sounds perfectly sane. Sending people to Mars now, is a waste of resources. We send probes, probes tell us basically what we already know (its slightly less inhospitable than say...Venus) and we learn some new details about the inhospitable conditions. Artificial Intelligence or Genetically Engineered creatures to send to Mars is a much more efficient approach. Let's get that working on Earth, first and we can talk about the myriad of inhospitable places that open up. That's very long term thinking, which is part of what space exploration is about. I don't think Trump supposes to know anything about long term technological viability. He just happens to be on the right side of this.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
The cost a Mars mission versus the cost of building an iron-curtain style wall from San Diego to Corpus Christi
In all honesty, at 41 years old, I think I'll be long dead before either is a reality.
It sounds neat, but how can I make any money off of that?
Let's stop spending money on unnecessary wars and rebuilding other nations to fix our crumbling infrastructure at home. A little consistent funding for NASA wouldn't hurt either.
He fits into the republican party better than any of them. And he's a good exposé of what the general population also feels, for what that is worth, seeing as he could actually win! I hope people are just trolling the idiot media pollsters the same way Trump is trolling the election.
Ah well, I still think going to Mars without doing the moon first is kinda dumb. It's like climbing Mt. Everest with the base camp in New York City.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
You lost me at "Donald Trump Thinks ..."
Typical leftist politics. Make a big stink about nothing. His comment on this isn't some horrible opinion that only a few have expressed, and certainly not something worthy of deeming him some crazy nut who's out of touch. Trump has a valid point here about priorities in the US. I mean, this is seriously more concerning to the left than say... using private servers for government emails, some of which are classified. The only reason one sets up an operation like this in their home is to avoid oversight. That, to many, is a much more serious topic worthy of discussion and judgement of character (and worthy of persecution). Hell, Scooter Libby went to prison for less, and the left loved every minute of that.
It is a Hillary shill or a Bernie one?
Donald Trump Thinks
And I immediately quit reading. Id just as soon interview the jar of pickles in my refrigerator on the finer points of an interstellar mission to Mars. The pickles would probably have just as much purchase in the decision to or process of going to Mars. The Pickles however would have the upper hand, as they wouldn't say a fucking word about something which they are not only incapable of comprehending, but would likely never have a potential to affect in the future.
Good people go to bed earlier.
At least not in any meaningful way. Forget about colonization in any way that allows many people that want to leave for at least a century. It is also quite possible that the colonization of America will remain an unique event, and nothing even remotely similar will be happening again, ever.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
much to the surprise of one and all, has become the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president
It doesn't surprise me at all that Trump is in the lead. He represents everything that the republicans keep saying they want. Now they have it and they don't know how to get rid of it.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
He is just doing this because, as proved by the posts here, he knows it will increase support. He is trolling. Of course he wants us to go to Mars. It would be the biggest spew of corporate welfare in the history of mankind. Even bigger than that Apollo scam. The Republicans love corporate welfare.
The limitation is not financial. Space exploration isn't expensive compared to other large infrastructure projects. Space exploration is very difficult and really exciting to work on. Given the opportunity, it could suck the attention and political talent away from domestic infrastructure projects.
In the upper levels of the government, there are a handful of roles from which a person can realistically manage the combination of congressional and bureaucratic oversight necessary to get "large" things done. If we're going to Mars, the director of NASA needs to be a superstar with a ton of facetime with Congress. That person can be the "visionary" science expert in Washington, or the "establishment" expert in Washington, but he can't "just" be a good administrator.
Chuck Bolden is a great guy, but he's not calling up his personal friends in the VC community like Arati Prabhakar (DARPA director and current "visionary" expert) or playing a key role in high stakes international diplomacy like Ernest Moniz (Sectretary of Energy and current "establishment" expert). Both of those administrators specialize in military related work. As long as the focus in Congress (and the media) is defense, it's going to be hard to break into that scientific leadership role focusing on anything but defense.
Nobody is surprised Trump is leading a presidential nomination after the past 8 years we've had.
I'm liking Donald more
space exploration returns next to nothing, its basic economics
The problem with statements like this is that "basic economics" is not always correct. It is a model, and like all models, it is incredibly helpful at helping us understand things and make predictions, but it doesn't always reflect reality. Most economists didn't predict the debt bubbles and economic issues of the past decade, for example.
In any case, let me illustrate why it's actually a great thing to do space exploration, even when other things need done too (nothing is mutually exclusive):
There's probably even more arguments than this but here's for starters. We absolutely need to focus on our national infrastructure, our educational system and student debt, and other issues (shameless plug for Bernie Sanders goes here, as he's the only candidate really talking about all of these things), but I don't think any of that work says you can't also spend on science at the same time. In fact, I think it's a necessity.
The Earth is flat, and Mars is a light on the firmament. We cannot "go there". His priorities seem to align with common sense.
See Parallax's "Earth not a Globe": http://www.sacred-texts.com/ea...; also Youtube channels for Eric Dubay, Mark Sargent, Matt Boylan, Jeranism, and others.
The truth is getting out. Great to see Trump aligning with it, even if he isn't directly stating it.
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
How about instead of picking a topic to get anti-Trump people posting on Slashdot, we pick a Trump topic that is legitimate for conversation here, like his H-1B position at https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform.
We won tget off this rock until the likes of Trump HAVE to get of this rock and then mankind will or at least the 1% segment of it will.
Hate to say it but seems like 80% of what he proposes actually makes sense. As opposed to the 20% of what the other candidates say.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
I do not really know why the crypto-commies in the media and the banksters want to destroy nations. It probably a Case Of Boring. The germanic/anglosaxon/christian states are so secure in many ways. That's boring. Now, make this more "interesting" by importing millions of Mohammedics so that Sharia Law can be enacted. Maybe a civil war will break out and the internationalists will have an ejaculation.
Another way of destroying the nice loo they live in is to excrement all over the place. See 2008.
Folks, wake up and become more cynical. Communism and Banksterism is FUELLED on CYNICISM. If you cannot sport their dirty tricks, your culture, your nation, your family will go the way of the Dodo.
Hell, even the Chicoms are way smarter than we are these days. And the trained Tsekist Putin has discovered the virtues of the Church and of Capitalism. Only the germanics are up to their throats in internationalist shite-liquid. THINK !
He said McCain is not a hero. Correctly so. McCain is a dangerous whore to the war industry. He called for "killing some Russians". He did not call for "kick the Russians out" or something to that effect. He specifically called for "killing Russians".
One more reason to like Trump - he smells the McCorruptos and calls them out. Little wonder the Banksters and the commies in the media hate him. All their well oiled corrupt, America-destructive systems will suffer under the assualt of so much truth.
People like Richard Fuld should be thrown into jail until they die naturally. Instead, the daughter of a major politician is married off to a great bankster. Richard Fuld, meanwhile, enjoys the country castle and a platinum credit card wherever he wishes to enjoy himself.
Trump is the much needed catharsis for the Augias Stable called "America".
Also, if Trump won't fix it, some corporal from the U.S. Marine Corps will eventually do it. His methods will be a bit more ferocious, though.
Oh wait, nevermind, I must have misread.
He did have a plan. Says it clearly couldn't work now. It doesn't seem like a very Republican platform, to be sure. Of course, at the moment, he seems to be doing more to advance the chances of a Democratic candidate than Hillary is. Seems like every time he opens his Trump hole, another 4-5% of the country decides they want to vote Democrat.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
it's mostly the military and keeping old folks alive (Social Security + Medicare). After that there's some money for foreign aid (Israel especially) and some money for the Interstate Highways.
I know a billion dollars sounds like a lot of money, but to a nation it's not. Trump won't be able to solve our problems without raising taxes because to really fix our infrastructure problems would require rolling back the tax cuts and loopholes we've been doling out to the 1% since Regan. There's a reason why our countries best years were when we had a 90% top marginal rate.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
they're competing to see who scores the most points with the billionaires that actually decide who our candidates will be (google "Sheldon Primary"). You didn't think we had a democracy, did you? Whada ya think this is, Canada?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Wondering when we would get a story on Slashdot about Donald Trump so we could gauge liberal socialist views on him.
So how does this work again? The Republicans have got all these potential candidates, and one of them will get elected to officially run for President by regular joe party members?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
well, this may sound OK, but when you are the shit that gets done its not so much fun anymore.
Politics may well be that nothing gets done rather than something, bad.
High level political candidates without experience is an elected office will result in a huge waste of election funds.
The corporate power structure is the closest thing to a dictatorship. Pick your leaders from there with unsurprising results.
Democracy is not given, it is taken, like all power structures.
I'm sorry--you think that the Trumpalicious One is revealing a single thing that is off of his script? Oooookay. . .
If ever a man's hairstyle told you absolutely all you needed to know, that hairstyle was Trump's. A ridiculous bit of follicular folly that successfully underscores the naked scalp from which it attempts to distract.
It's Summer. Donald is Me First & the Gimme Gimmes filling air time before the real campaign begins.
Of course, I don't dispute that he could be a total false flag operation for Her Majesty, intended more as a wrecking ball than anything else.
I'll also cast a protest vote for him, should your buddies at GOP Central insist on nominating JEB.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Who cares what Baldyman thinks?
I guess he's afraid the Martians will send us 'rapists'.
Trump is right on this one.
According to a much hated National Academies of Science report last year, the USA will NOT be able to launch, and return successfully, a mission to Mars within the next 50 years.
Why?
No national infrastructure to support such does not exist in 2015; which also means the people building and running the infrastructure (and Astronauts) do not exist yet!
Moreover, there a budget to even begin building the most critical piece of the infrastructure, a bolt, does not exists yet!
Furthermore, NASA will not be the US government agency in charge of such a project! The government agency in charge of such a project does not exist yet!
Today's NASA is fucked, and so are we.
Ha ha
> To the contrary, I think he might actually be better than most at diplomacy -- he knows how to negotiate and strike deals, even or especially with people who are hard to deal with.
Yep, that's EXACTLY what he's very good at, negotiating deals. That's why his book is called The Art of the Deal.
I won't vote for him, but I will acknowledge what his strengths are. He figures out what the other side ACTUALLY wants and what he actually wants, and comes up with a way for both sides to get most of the what they want. He _might_ help negotiate through the gridlock in Congress by proposing or supporting bills which allow most people to achieve their ends.
I say "what they ACTUALLY want" because most of the time, what people ask for isn't what they actually want. Software developers understand that. Somebody might propose a ban on SUVs when they want cleaner air, a foreign leader might make all sorts of demands when what they really want is to save face, to tell their constituents that they stood up to America. Trump's skill is to find a way to allow the foreign leader to declare victory while giving us what we want.
That said, I think his weakness is that he speaks too soon and too much, without first thinking about what he's going to say. I have a reputation which exceeds my actual skills and knowledge. The myth is that I know a LOT, that I almost always have the correct answer, that I'm virtually never wrong. The truth is that I simply keep my mouth shut when I don't know. It's not that I always have the right answer, it's that I don't often argue for an answer that's wrong. I shut up or just ask questions unless and until I have the right answer. Trump isn't like that.
He's a New York Real Estate Developer. That means he's experienced at corruption and getting things done and returns on investment. Of course he's not interested in going to Mars--there are no people there to build things. Now if you asked him if he wanted to build a space tourist hotel in orbit...
He also loves Mexicans!
How's the colonization of America an unique event? People walked across the Bering land bridge when they had the chance just like they walked into Europe and Asia. They may have had boats as well like the people who colonized Australia probably did and the people who colonized many islands definitely did.
Now an unique event would be colonizing Antarctica, something much easier then Mars but still needing quite a bit of technology beyond fire, canoes and spears
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
He's not going to be the GOP candidate, and a GOP candidate isn't going to get elected, either, because they're all extremist whack-jobs one way or another. Not that Hilary or any other potential Democrat candidate is really any better; in fact there are no candidates from any party that are worth a damn.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
1. The colonists did know where they were gong when they went to colonize America
2. It was mass-scale and used to get away from where they were before
3. The distance involved was large and the travel time comparatively small
But you could have seen that if you had stopped to think for a minute. I now predict you are going to further demonstrate your lack of understanding.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Make America Great Again!
Why does it matter?
This thief isn't going to be President.
If he tries hard enough difficult questions are going to be asked about how he had millions after bankruptcy and who his friends are that protected him from the law.
If Trump was forced to pay back what he owes a homeless man would have more wealth.
So you want half of america to learn that climate change is a hoax, sex is evil, contraception will give you AIDS, and slavery really isn't a bad thing because you can make a lot of money with it?
Because that's what half of america wants to teach in school.
You seem to be confusing the conquest of the new world with the original colonization by humanity. Something that was not unique as a similar story happened in Australia as well as various other places.
As we're talking about colonizing Mars, it is not really comparable to the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and English conquest of the Americas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Seriously, I really expected something more from him than stock answer #202, namely "Yeah, I think $topic is a good idea but we should get our act together first".
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a non-answer from a politician. This answer fits any question, any topic, anything. That's neither a commitment nor a dismissal. It is, essentially, nothing.
*sigh* This campaign is going to be a long one if they already start with the empty statements in the primaries.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Mars is a great big, dry gravity well. We as a species are better off learning how to live in space. There are more resources between the Earth and Jupiter then we have access too currently.
Even with advanced propulsion, humans will have to learn to live in space. We are a long way from colonizing mars, it's such a pipe dream.
I agree that he hasn't articulated a cohesive, consistent set of beliefs which guide policy. So far, he seems more pragmatic, basing decisions on outcomes rather than principles (aka ideology) . Normally, I'd want a leader to have consistent principles, but with the current political situation someone who can stimulate and press negotiations in Congress may be as useful. Many in Congress have cohesive set of beliefs which make sense together, while across the aisle someone else has a conflicting set of principles. A paragmatic view of how to achieve the goals, apart from any particular idealogy, may be helpful right now.
> I suppose it's possible he could surround himself with the right policy experts (all Presidents ultimately do) but then who's policy is it?
Good presidents and leaders surround themselves with good people. Some sorround themselves with old buddies. Through his career Trump has sorrounded himself with effective people. I if he hires/appoints you to a high level position, you keep your job not by implementing a certain policy (such as strengthening or eliminating Common Core), but by getting good results, measurably good (such as actually improving US education ranking vs the rest of the world). In other words, he looks at the bottom line numbers, not HOW you did it, but HOW WELL you did it, by the numbers.
Of course, predictions about presidents are extremely difficult. George W Bush (junior) was known for facilitating compromise as governor of Texas. There was no gridlock, he got things done by getting lawmakers to come together and to compromise. Most people who knew anything about him thought he'd have at least that strength as president. Eh, no so much. Not beyond certain unifying events like 9-11. Obama was one of the most inspiring candidates in decades. I figured he might lead people down the wrong path, but he'd lead, he'd inspire the nation. Eh, not so much. So it's really hard to predict what a person will do as president.
President Obama unlike Donald Trump thinks that space exploration is just gay, and the kind of faggy thing that whiteys get all excited about. So in order to quell the dreams of you goofy dorks, he says that he must concentrate on domestic issues first. By that he means that he should squander as much cash as he possibly can through phoney capitalism to all his buddies.
Road construction is so expensive because soo damm many people must be bribed and paid off before an environmental impact statement can be created. Maybe Trump could use some of his negotiating powers to finaggle deals so that to build a mile of highway it only takes 100 million as opposed to 100 billion. This would be an improvement. I guess Trump is saying the USA is soo fucked that we need to look at the USA b4 we worry about the solar system. But if he is elected maybe the next president would be able to get us into space again. If not Better look toward China and Russia.
The last 3 presidents did a great job of increasing the power of the world at the cost to the USA. Maybe the USA could for once elect a president that looks after the interests of the USA first. Naahh. Will never happen. The Media is getting too much money from the new world order crowed to let that happen. The populace will only elect someone who has been endorsed and vetted by the media elite. The Difference between Fox and CNN is spelling. Dems and Repubs pretend to be different in order to delude the masses into believing they have a choice in the matter. No matter who you vote for; either democrat or republican, you are voting to be a slave. Trump will never receive the endoresement, unless his campain is just some tremendous false flag operation. But if that is the case, than what other choice do you have. I know for damm sure Mexico, China, and Russia do not want him elected.
Doesn't it indicate that he's not willing to take responsibility for his own actions - also there is a lot more to it and others have gone to jail for less.
1st: the illegals
2nd: the deadbeats (homeless, druggies, "leeches", etc.)
3rd: the liberals and commies
When the pasty-white folk arrived from Europe, there were no actual nations on the continent, only clusters of tribal stone-age barbarians who were so backward they did not, themselves, even know where they were. The "native Americans" had no fixed national boundaries, no formal governments, no written laws (therefore no immigration restriction laws), they did not even possess the wheel nor did they know how to ride horses (which got to the new world on the ships of Europeans). The horse-riding "indians" portrayed in westerns were from centuries later, after the "indian" population learned that a man on a horse was actually two separate creatures (when the tribal people first saw people riding horses, they thought the horse and rider were one entity).
While we're on the subject, the so-called "native Americans" are NOT. They themselves immigrated to the new world from Asia. They are also NOT the first to do so. The fossil record demonstrates that the first to arrive in the new world via the Bearing Strait were likely from northern Japan (study Kennowick Man); they were wiped-out by a later wave of immigrants of more-central-Asian origin who were the ancestors of the so-called "native Americans". In other words: EVERYBODY in the Western Hemisphere is descended from immigrants and NONE of the first settlers still exist.
It's also true that Mexicans have no claim to the Southwest US. Most of the SPANISH speakers of modern Mexico are at least partly descended from the Spanish settlers (note: they speak SPANISH - a minor clue for those lacking a world history education) and therefore have no more claim to native rights to the land than the modern Americans.
I'm old enough to remember that the SAME line you just spewed was spewed at Ronald Reagan - "Whaaaa... don't vote for HIM, he's a dangerous cowboy who will start WWIII!!!!". Reagan went-on to win the Cold War without firing a shot.
Obama, on the other hand, is arranging for an insanely evil revolutionary Islamic theocracy who has pledged to wipe-out the Jews and America and who is currently the world's leading sponsor of terrorism to get over a hundred billion dollars and nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles in ten years. There will now be a nuclear arms race in the most-unstable region of the world. This is made worse because the Russians are currently in violation of the intermediate range nuclear weapons treaty they have with the US, and President Obama has done nothing about this too - which gives a green light to Putin to do more.
There is nothing a President Trump could possibly do to make the world more dangerous than President Obama has already done.
If we do not turn the US economy around FAST, US human spaceflight will permanently end SOON (even government-funded SpaceX flights).
When Obama was elected, the US was about 9 Trillion dollars in debt. One President (Obama) has added more debt than all the Presidents before him combined!. We are now well past 18 Trillion in debt. The Obama administration has been lying about the current debt for months now, claiming we have spent no money since about May, because we are at the debt ceiling and they have not yet asked congress to raise it - had they reported the accurate numbers we would be listed at over 19 Trillion in debt now. Just watch: the debt ceiling fight will arise this fall and after congress raises it, the Obama admin will suddenly admit a huge jump in the official debt.
None of this accounts for the over 200 Trillion dollars the politicians have already promised to pay-out in government employee retirement payments and in Social Security and Medicare - Money we are obligated to pay but have no source for funding. We already spend over 70% of federal dollars on social programs, and are spending nearly as much on interest on the massive debt as we spend on the military. If the nation is to go on much longer with things like a space program, then priority number one must be employment and economic growth; working-age people need to be productively employed at high-wage jobs and paying taxes rather than un- or under-employed at low-wage service jobs. I do not particularly like Trump, but he's the only person running who seems to understand business and economics and the mess that the idiots in Washington in both parties have put the nation into.
"If current laws remained generally unchanged, federal debt held by the public would exceed 100 percent of GDP by 2040 and continue on an upward path relative to the size of the economy—a trend that could not be sustained indefinitely." - The CBO (the non-partisan government agency that analyzes budgets for the congress no matter who is in power)
Have no fear, Hillary is promising free college for all, and soon she will start promising more free healthcare and student debt forgiveness too! She's counting on young people being too stupid to understand where even more debt and national bankruptcy lead. "Jeb!" is only very marginally better than "H->", not enough to matter for anybody under 60.
Trump was lying about the rebuilding the infrastructure part too.
If only Mr Trump was running for president in Russia.He has all the quality requirement of a great russian leader. :)
How does he plan on solving the problems of this earth?
Twinstiq, game news
"Honestly, I think it's wonderful; I want to rebuild our infrastructure first, ok? I think it's wonderful."
But there is a lot of sense in this. Obviously, both targets (going to Mars, fixing our infrastructure) need not be mutually exclusive. But we live with a significantly impaired political system where nobody funds anything unless it is a pet project that pours tax moolah into their districts. It takes a act of God/Cthulhu to get something on a bill.
And we really need to fix our infrastructure.
And that should be in our agenda first and foremost. If we can do the Mars thing as well, that is great. But we need to get infrastructure (along carbon footprint reduction) in our list first and foremost with everything else (even our precious dreams of space exploration) secondary.
Contrast that with some people who want to turn NASA into a community outreach program.
The problem with Trumps view is that there are ALWAYS going to be "earthly concerns" that can never be fixed which will soak up available funding. Of all people, he should know that a major space program creates a whole lot of ancillary business.
Stupid!
Some of them are not but some of that wide and varied bunch that like to call themselves "Libertarians" are clearly anarchists that just like to sound of the word "Libertarian". Others, to put things bluntly, want to be the chosen nobles of an absolute monarch such that the rules apply to everyone apart from the chosen nobles. Many and varied branches good for a lot of laughs, as well as the few that are not so naive that they ignore the implications of what they preach - sadly either very rare or drowned out by the noise of opportunists, useful idiots (ironically ideologically similar to the anarchist Russian Black Army that the Reds used as cannon fodder) or just plain idiots.
The special case above of "libertarian" warlords is what Koch was pushing hard a few years ago. A dystopia where the rich can do what they want and rest are serfs that have to put up with those polluting upstream unless they are warlords with a lot of resources themselves.
That's what the legacy of George Washington etc is saving us from. Wanting to throw all that away seems somewhat extreme to me - counter-revolutionaries more than two hundred years too late that just do not understand the gift that they have been given.
You seem to be confusing the conquest of the new world with the original colonization by humanity
To some extent, the 15th/16th century migration really was a colonization of empty land -- disease had destroyed the majority of Native American cities; the settlers only got a real foothold in the New World when most of the villages they came across were empty. There was a fair amount of conquest, especially later, but diseases that the natives had little resistance to did most of the work, partially emptying a land that used to have more people in it than all of Europe combined.
While disease made the conquest much easier, the conquest started before the diseases really took off and it just ended up being an ally.
Even if there were no natives, it is still nothing like colonizing Mars would be like and too many people equate the two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism