A national park on the Moon seems like lunacy.
The news that Reps. Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) had introduced a bill, H.R. 2617, to create a National Historic Park at the Apollo landing sites immediately turned up on RedEye and similar sardonic news programs, no doubt, because the wording of the bill does not choose “Monument” but “Park.” And a park is something we drive to, park and visit.
At present, visiting the Moon isn’t a live option for anyone, much less a bookable destination for bus tourists, motorists, and motorcycle gangs.
And yet, let’s not roll on the floor, or even LOL: the bill’s fifth “whereas” has a point:
[A]s commercial enterprises and foreign nations acquire the ability to land on the Moon it is necessary to protect the Apollo lunar landing sites for posterity. . . .
A plausible case could be made for this, and congratulations to the legislators for thinking ahead!
But an even more common-sensible case could be made for the opposite policy, allowing private businesses to reclaim the sites for their own benefit, to promote more tourism. Let them preserve the historic sites on their nickel, rather than on the taxpayers’.
Besides, one could look at those landing sites as containing the detritus of previous holiday excursions. Whereas, (a) leaving litter behind on the beach doesn’t make the beach yours; or (b) discarding one’s car on the freeway for a week constitutes abandonment — just so, Apollo’s lunar sites and debris aren’t really U.S. government property any longer.
The abandoned artifacts are junk. Let them belong to the first enterprises that prove otherwise.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
8 replies on “Junk Sites or National Park?”
of course!
It is no more ours to claim as a park than as a toxic waste dump.
We are $17 TRILLION in debt, still giving away billions of dollars to people that despise not just our government’s actions (argueable despiseable), but also the freedom we have to make immoral choices and to support an immoral culture like in Hollywood, and yet Congress is STILL jacking around with stuff like this, instead of actually working.
Too bad Congress can’t/won’t think ahead on more terrestrial issues…OMG, I sound like a liberal! But, it does work both ways…Really? A park on the Moon? If Virgin or SpaceX gets there first, more power to them. They can have whatever they want to capture for The Smithsonian, if they can get it back here…or build one there! Ummm, how about jobs first? Priorities, priorities, priorities…
Reflects badly on these representatives’ districts, that they would tolerate such blatant waste of there representatives’ time and of their tax dollars. Suggest that the districts are rife with low information voters.
“their representatives'”
Then again, it would be interesting to see which politician wants to ‘dedicate’ America’s newest national park. How many Secret Service agents would be required?
And I would venture that when Teddy Roosevelt opened the first National parks, similar statements ( without, obviously, the internet).
And I heard ( am old enough to recall) similar sentiments about the space program-which has yielded numerous benefits to society–probably one of the best investments/expenditures the government made in decades. Like cell phones; digital everything; etc