Time-scales

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Al Globus wrote:
> The interesting thing about beliefs is that they can change very
> rapidly. Consider adult converts to various religions. However
you
> screen your applicants for beliefs, there is no guarantee they
will
> have the same beliefs a few years down the line. This happens
with
> supreme court judges too.

You are of course correct, although I fail to see why you see this as
a problem.

When folks change their beliefs, they change their affiliations. This
is a true in the realm of politics as in any other arena of Human
interest. In the political arena, changin one's affiliation to match
one's changing mind can be as simple as altering one's voter
registration from Democrat to Republican...or as complex as uprooting
one's entire life, learning a new language, and moving halfway around
the world in order to become a citizen of the State one most admires.

Why should ORION be any different?

>From time to time -- as I'm sure Ed will attest, having been one of
them -- members rethink their commitment. If they can no longer honor
that commitment with a full and joyful heart, they make the only
possible moral choice: they resign.

And on the flip side, of course, more potential ORIONauts come into
being via changes of sociopolitical mind every day, SOMEWHERE on this
keee-RAAAA-zy planet we currently inhabit; our challenge is to locate
them and welcome them Home :)

Things might get a LITTLE more complex post-Launch Day...but even
then, the only obstacles to free emigration/immigration will be the
technical ones of affordable transportation.

spike