No, and that is not what I said either. By national security, I mean that Bush is making sure that the Chinese don't hold cislunar space uncontested.
As far as the private property rights, that simply isn't an issue right now because no one is doing anything with the moon yet.
So we didn't use them to beat the Japanese? That's an interesting view of history.
Yes, when we had two and the rest of the world had none. Vastly different situation and silly of you to bring that up.
That was in response to your 'economic stimulus' arguments.
The state can provide subsidy to jump start an industry without being full blown communism. Are do you assert that the United States was communist when it subsidized the railroads?
Does that mean we're going to build moon forts and hold them at bay, or what?
As far as the private property rights, that simply isn't an issue right now because no one is doing anything with the moon yet.
Do you think they will, with no property rights? Who wants to haul back a freightload of Moon riches if they have to hand it over to the UN and 'share' it with every backwater despot on Earth?
Are do you assert that the United States was communist when it subsidized the railroads?
No, just that the railroad funding was a way for politicians to funnel taxpayer money to cronies for kickbacks. Ever heard of the Great Northern Railway? I'm sure the public school history books told you about the Union-Pacific, because it was the one wrapped up in political giveaways. Did they tell you how, being paid for the mile they gave no consideration to the state of their rail, and how and where they laid it? Did they talk about laying ties and rail on top of snow, just so they could claim the land around it, even if the thaw rendered it useless when it sank under it's own weight to the ground? No problem! Taxpayer funded subsidies to fix it! Railroads might have been one of the worst things to bring up, unless you meant to make my point - government can't be trusted to make good use of the resources, or even properly direct them.
........OR built the Panama Canal, the Interstate Highway, Apollo, TVA, Hoover Dam, etc. This new initiative is another infrastructure to strengthen the U.S. economy and our national security - science gets a back seat but reaps the rewards of getting there.