Thanos is Returning
On March 23, 1963, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech that has been titled “The Star Wars” Speech. He proposed that we would have a force field around the country. In his mind, America would be protected from any
possible missile strike. We know now that Reagan was suffering from the beginning of Alzheimer’s. Contrary to belief, Reagan had appointed many smart people around him. In the height of the Star Wars movie sequel, his political appointees stopped this idea and didn’t fund the force field. It was also in the midst of the Cold War, so having a space-type protection was not a far-fetched idea even though the idea flew in the face of having an anti-militarized space.
President Donald Trump has now announced a new branch of the military –the Space Force. He says that this is supposed to help protect America from the unknowns of space as well as fighting wars in outer space since war will not be just fought on-ground (meaning Earth).
Two things come to mind: (1) This president is having a problem dealing with the disappearances of our favorite super heroes, like Superman, in the Infinity War movie. Realizing that he barely sleeps and watches a great deal of television, it is pretty clear that he is thinking of making dreams and science fiction a reality; and (2) Is there anybody in the White House that has the courage to tell the president the word ‘no’?
When looking deeper in this topic, we do have a Space Command in the Air Force. When reading the website: http://www.afspc.af.mil/, the Mission is to “provide resilient, defendable, and affordable space and cyberspace capabilities for the Air Force, Joint Force and the Nation.” Pause for a second, “affordable”? When has flying to space been affordable? I am already lost in this explanation. In addition, I think the Vision scares me the most, as it says this force is to “Innovate, Accelerate, Dominate…in Space and Cyberspace.” Dominate? Dominate who and how? What does dominate look like and how does it look in a democratic country?
If this Space Command is funded in a more meaningful way and it really does become our 6th branch of government, then I am more concerned now than ever about our future as a nation and the world. This is not for research purposes like NASA. This branch of government is specifically for militarizing outer space from a mysterious threat. Have we watched to many Independence Day or Marvel movies? Are we really spending more money on this than helping our environment?
Did I forget to mention that Flint, Michigan still doesn’t have clean running water?
