Mars Family Robinson

> > The geographical separation of any colony in Space will just be
> > too great, for it to remain politically attached to any entity on
> > Earth.
>
> There is a fundamental issue that you seem to be ignoring. The
> habitat will have been paid for by others, perhaps countries or
> corporations. It won't belong entirely to the inhabitants.
>
> Look to the case of Argentina to get an idea of what happens when a
> country stops honoring its international obligations, or to the
> early Soviet Union, when the country repudiates its debts. Look to
> Cuba when a country confiscates assets that belong to foreigners.
>
> People don't look kindly to such confiscations and they seek to
> pressure, isolate, and punish the country that is stealing from
> them. In some cases, forcible measures follow.
>

Actually you are in fact missing the entire point. The colonies will
be further than everywhere on earth. Even Geosynch orbit is further
away than any two points on earth, and the colonies themselves will
have to be further still.

The colonies if they decide to revolt won't have to care about what
Earth or the people that own the property think. The Power satellites
will be under their control. Any nuclear misslie launched from earth
or from orbit would take days to reach any colony. That time lag will
allow them to destroy the missiles far enough away that it won't make
a difference.

As for isolating the country. The colonies would have to be isolated.
Other than denying them the latest Holliwood movies, what can Earth do
to further isolate people a quarter of a million kilometers away or
further.

Also What could earth do when the SSP are in control of the colonies
and fifty percent of the worlds electricity is simply turned off.

I disagree with srej about rebellion being early in the colonization
period. I believe it will be after two or three generations when the
people running the colonies have never lived on earth and have no
attachment too it. When those people start to see earth as a drain on
their economy, the way the thirteen colonies saw Britain and its
unfair taxation policy, that is when revolution in space will happen,
and that is when Earth will stand by and see the entire space
infrastructure simply taken by these colonies and will have to
negotiate with them or risk chaos on Earth because their main source
of energy is gone.

Bill