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One world or system governments will not work if their aim is to enforce its will upon it people. It has to enforce its peoples will within a certain set of limits. No government, no matter how well intentioned to the latter, is immune to becoming the former. It requires that people stand up for it. So it really doesn't matter how many people are a part of it or where they are, so long as they can communicate and take part.

So? 

Theres some neat stuff in there, but really I have a hard time seeing a need for a legislative body that covers the entire Solar system. What exactly would they talk about?

An executive enforcement body that enforces universal human, civil and legal rights from the various kooks that are bound pop up, maybe.

But really if we still have to argue about the particulars of those rights enough to need a legislature, then we've already failed.

You can throw all the money in the world, really, it's been attempted, at education, but if you can't instill discipline in the class room and make the curriculum useful, it won't amount to a hill of beans. The teachers unions  have a lot to do with it. The greatest reason to abandon public schools is because they are failing, if you fix them I think the equality and sense of community they create make them the obvious choice. Sure some other schools will offer different options public schools won't but I think the schedules can be structured to make room for them.

Public educational infrastructure for all ages is the cornerstone of a free and prosperous republic. We just have to make sure people learn, and it doesn't turn into a glorified baby sitting service.

The higher the altitude, the less atmosphere, the less protection.

Business has no business in health care. In fact theres already too much business in health care, thats why it cost so much, the stockholders can not be denied. The simple fact is that people will pay any price for the chance to stay alive, it's a survival mechanism. It's the nature of business to take advantage of this.

The trouble with treating health care as a right is that people start treating life as a right. Health care is just as much an art as a science, with the out come determined by circumstances often unforeseen and beyond a doctors control. Furthermore, health conditions are not merely a question of combating competing organisms, genetic conditions and just plain old stupidity on the part of patients play equal parts. And we can't exactly enforce diets and other healthy measures to mitigate them and still call ourselves a free country. Though some places try.

The only thing we can do is make sure the facilities and technology are available, and let the doctors do their job. I think we can build, operate, supply and man more than sufficient general, specialist, and emergency infrastructure for a fraction of what we are paying now, even while ensuring that the builders, suppliers, and staff make a worthwhile profit. Supplies can be mass produced cheaply to a surplus for emergencies. Doctors should be handsomely paid for the extensive training and tremendous responsibility they bear. Drug and device advances could be funded much like the defense industry, with the government owning the right to reproduce as needed.

Actually, its the cornerstone of agriculture.

Why is it so difficult to believe that we are the product of it?

And of course we know the definition of "day" varies depending on were you are.

Whatever happened to the planned Shuttle flyback boosters to replace the SRBs?

I wonder how well they could be adapted to the Ares V.

They significantly increase the cost of health care and workers comp insurance, both huge issues on major construction sites.

Ok, this is descending dangerously close to a political thread, so I expect some of this to be split off there. Never the less, I'm not going give this a free pass...

Oh yeah, cause those people are just working to hand over everything to the state, right? Cause they'll just stay rich forever, no matter how much you tax them. And everyone will still aspire to the high office of goverment cash cow.

Actually, no, history has proven this to be wrong.

As for the value of space tourism, it has a lot to do with how we structure the program. Economy of scale is the key to everything, as it will make the dollars go farther, and increase the prospect of truly private space travel. The day Bill Gates decides he can afford his own space yacht is the day he decides he can put his servants into space.

And then of course theres the souvenirs. 

True business as we know it on Earth is far on the other side of colonization threshold. Beyond some of the more exotic stuff, we have our physical needs covered on Earth. And its incredibly expensive and/or dangerous to bring stuff to the surface. The real advantage of those resources is to mitigate the cost by building everything we need off world.

To what end exactly? Do you really think you can solve everyones problems?

If you really want tax revenue, teach people how to take care of themselves so that they are not pinching every penny to survive under oppressive taxes.

Space exploration is not a pot luck supper. The more systems the more everything costs. The ISS should have proved that beyond a doubt.

That worked so well before.

Washington doesn't want anymore oil, its apparently bad for the environment, and the anti-war party likes the tax revenue the high prices bring. So much so they are trying desperately to make it worse.

And why shouldn't tourism for people with more money than sense be apart of that?

The trouble is you can't get blood from a stone. The US afford this, the rest of the world, by and large, can not. If Europe got rid of socialism, they could match NASAs current budget. Various other democracies like Australia, Brazil, or SKorea combined could probably do the same. Russia's priorities are a bit of an enigma. The US, if it got it's act together could do five times what its doing now. Thats whats going to get the job done.

So thats maybe a third of the worlds population represented. You can't colonize space with a third of the world represented without them becoming colonies of those countries, and repeating the mistakes of the past. Furthermore, theres a big difference exploration and colonization. While the former answers the technical questions, the latter has vast social, economic and political implications that have nothing to with the former.

Really?

Who's going to pay for it?

A tunnel boring machine also takes an incredible amount of manpower and spare parts to operate on Earth. It will be a long time before one is functioning on the moon.

With a minimal of equipment, we could melt lunar silica in to masonry and build regolith structures for or over our habs for the same effect.

With a little bit of preplanning, we can robotically cannibalize our Altairs decent tanks into a mini base after we go, and have them covered with bricks when we return.