"Whether it is more immoral to persecute people because of their opinions than to victimize them because of their former position or their descent may be arguable... But whether a child is made to perish because his parents were Jewish or because his father had a few cows too many and therefore was regarded as a kulak, or whether a man is excluded from jobs because he is a Negro or because he used to be a merchant - in all these cases the victim is penalized for something that has nothing to do with moral guilt and that originated in the past, so that it cannot now be changed. If Communists argued that the incidence of counterrevolutionary designs was greater among kulaks or former bourgeois than among workers, we may remember Hitler's argument that the incidence of some types of crimes was higher among Jews than among non-Jews, and similar arguments of American racists with regard to Negroes or Orientals."
- Carl Landauer, European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements
There is very little reason to be surprised that the American space program adopted a heavily socialist paradigm. After all, it was designed in large part by a former Nazi officer, Wernher von Braun. From his articles in Collier's magazine to his role in developing the Saturn launch vehicles, von Braun was a principal architect of the American space program.
Von Braun was not a reluctant Nazi. To the contrary, "He joined the National Socialist Aviation Corps, getting his pilot's license in 1933, the DAF trade union, a hunting organization associated with the Nazis, the air raid protection organization, and the SS horseback riding school, where he took lessons twice a week (Donefer, Charles, "Wernher von Braun: National Hero or Enemy to the World?" 1996)." During the Second World War, von Braun's missiles were produced at the Mettelwork concentration camp using slave labor. His missiles were launched to strike targets in London, Belgium, and France. The work of this Nazi butcher led to the deaths of thousands, the destruction of countless homes, and the demolition of vast properties.
From the Nazi military, whose defeat his missiles were powerless to prevent, von Braun sought and found a position with the American military. Later, as the space program was identified with political propaganda, von Braun found himself in a largely civilian agency, NASA. He brought with him his socialist ideals, his associate Walter Dornberger, and his strategy for space conquest.
Dornberger presents two interesting footnotes to this story. In contrast to von Braun, who seemed eager to embrace Nazism, Dornberger invoked an old rule of the Weimar Republic, still in effect, which allowed him to refuse political affiliation while serving as a military officer. Dornberger was involved only in the hunting group, claiming later that he was more interested in deer than politics. Dornberger is also credited with setting up the American aerospace and defense contractor community using as his model the Mettelwork concentration camp. Not a few contractor employees have noted the comparison.
The von Braun strategy for conquering space was a militaristic one, drawn on the same model as an army commander might use to defeat and occupy enemy territory. This same paradigm continues in large measure to be the preferred approach for NASA projects. Missions are conceived, executed, and completed. Bases were to be established. First an orbital base or station, then a Moon base, and ultimately a base on Mars. Even the names of early rockets followed this military approach (e.g., Corporal, Scout).
Unfortunately, the development of frontiers rarely follows a military strategy. A more effective paradigm would be to establish outposts, communities, and eventually cities in the new environment. European settlers approached the conquest of the New World in two different ways. The Spanish proceeded with a military conquest, enslaved their captives, and worked the enemy population to death in mines and on plantations. The British and French established trading posts, worked with the native population to explore and exploit the resources of the new frontier, and only later turned some of those trading posts into forts.
The contrast between the two approaches is perhaps best exemplified by considering the situation of the modern-day descendents of the two systems. The Spanish model was prevalent in Central and South America, the British and French model in Canada and the United States. The leading position of these latter two economies in the Western Hemisphere is certainly suggestive.
NASA continues to operate the nationalistic, socialistic, militaristic, and we dare say, Nazi-style paradigm for space achievement. Instead of opening the space frontier to a broad segment of the public, NASA has gone out of its way to deny the opportunity for ordinary Americans to fly in space. NASA has purposely eliminated the Citizen in Space program which was responsible for the Teacher in Space program, and was to continue with a Journalist in Space and other opportunities for Americans from various walks of life to participate in the nation's space program. Why? Surely not because they think Christa McAuliffe caused the Challenger accident. Rather, because it doesn't fit well within their paradigm.
The astronaut corps is a paramilitary organization, drawing its candidates from the military and from various preferred scientific disciplines. Astronauts are selected more for their obedience than for any other skill or trait. NASA space missions are conducted under the authority of a mission commander, often a former or reserve status military officer. These missions achieve mission objectives, and then return to base for mission debriefing.
Why is NASA determined to build a space station? In order to assign astronauts to a duty assignment, they must have a station where they can be...stationed. Once the station is deployed, troops, er, astronauts will be deployed to occupy it.
Was a militaristic approach to space achievement ever appropriate? A case can be made for militarism within the military missile and space programs. There is no excuse for such militarism and overt socialism in the civilian space program.
Yet it continues. NASA has never encountered a commercial space venture that it didn't try to eliminate, compete against, or coopt. The list of casualties in the war for freedom in space achievement is long, and includes many fine companies sent to the brink or destroyed by NASA.
In 1972, von Braun was disappointed with the cancellation of the Apollo program. He must have seen its demise as a serious defeat for his plans for conquering space. He was involved in the organization of a group, the National Space Institute, which later became the National Space Society. His socialist agenda continues to permeate that organization's activities to this day.
Let no one mistake our meaning. When we refer to socialism or a socialist agenda, we are not referring to some harmless alternative political philosophy. We are speaking about the heinous, butchering, vicious political philosophy of the most murderous, sadistic totalitarian regimes. Anyone who endorses or embraces socialism, or claims that it "isn't so bad," is, at best, nothing more than a collaborating sycophant, and at worst is endorsing the butchering of hundreds of millions of humans.
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