CULTS IN SPACE

    China apparently has launched a new initiative to combat the influence of the dangerous religious cult, Falun Gong. The cult's followers in the United States are claiming that the Chinese Government has been PSA's through social media and other outlets to warn citizens to beware of their activities. The Falun Gong originated in China, but their self-proclaimed 'messiah' now lives in a compound in New York. The Chinese recognize the danger of cults: here the Falun Gong, the Moonies, the Dalai Lama, etc. are patronized and used in the media as China Experts. Falun Gong and the Moonies even have their own media outlets: The Epoch Times and the Washington Times respectively. Newsweek is also heavily Moonie-influenced. 

    There was a time in America when Conservative leaders also recognized the danger of cults---and certainly didn't promote them as today's Conservatives do. The Reagan Administration actually turned the FBI loose on those rats and the Reverend Moon, several Scientologists, Satanists, and Megachurch leaders wound up in jail. But then, we got the kinder, gentler Neocon Administration of Bush Sr. who let most of them out and even recognized a few as legitimate religions. It was a good investment for the Neocons, because cults have been a substantial revenue and propaganda force for them ever since.

    

    China also has other, more practical interests in the heavens and interests in a different kind of moon. Their Aerospace program is planning a manned mission to the moon by next year, and they have been developing biodomes for potential space colonization. Years ago, they joined Russia as the only developed country with a manned space station and making progress in many other areas.

    This being an Election Year in the US, the Republicans in Congress have desperately been seeking any issue they can possibly find to distract attention from their hopeless incompetence. Some apparently have just recently noticed that the US hasn't done much of anything relating to space exploration in decades and other countries are now filling the void. Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas---one of the most paranoid of anti-China 'hawks'---screeched from the Floor on Wednesday that “It’s no secret that China has a goal to surpass the United States by 2045 as global leaders in space! We can’t allow this to happen!” 

    NASA, much like the Pentagon, has during the last few decades become more committed to Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion programs than anything relating to its original purpose. Also, much like the Pentagon, most of its budget has been outsourced to shady Government contractors to the point where we don't even manufacture rocket engines in the US for the most part and have to import the critical minerals necessary for components anyway. Like most of the Hot Air coming out of Congress, Lucas is doing nothing more than engaging in wishful thinking: imagining that somehow the Aerospace infrastructure that we abandoned years ago will re-appear magically complete with skilled workers, engineers, domestic supply-chains and materials---and it won't cost the taxpayers anything to do it.

    The Trump Administration did try to address the problem by funding long-term, sensible goals like we did in the 1950s. But Orange Man Bad: Americans chose instead the excitement of panicking over a flu epidemic and some mean tweets. NASA recently tried to cobble together a lunar program after the so-called China Threat started making headlines and the program is stalled after their probe blew up on the launch pad. 

   For their part, the Chinese deny that they are pursuing any sort of Cold War-style 'Space Race,' and this is probably true. I think that it is really more a case of how nature abhors a vacuum. China has the means and the skill to build a first-rate Aerospace program and they are doing it. 

   The American program in contrast suffered from the same problems that most of our infrastructure has since the 1990s. Our political and academic classes smugly proclaimed "the end of history" and the "New American Century" and assumed that nobody else could touch our superiority in Space. We stopped investing in the program and turned it over to chowderheads like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who couldn't wait to turn Outer Space into a money-making venture for Wall Street. Such engineers as we had in our universities were funded by Big Tech to develop things like space-shuttle limos for future versions of Las Vegas and Disneyland on Mars. China, meanwhile was investing in Space Technology to learn and develop new technologies that might have some practical value on Earth. 

    The politicians in Congress are flapping their arms over America losing its dominance in Space. This is also hyperbole. Our Space program was successful because we did then---what China is doing now---partnering with allied Space programs. Ours then mostly came from Europe and Japan. Those networks of cooperation are gone now too; thanks again mostly to Beltway bullying and hubris. Without any help from NASA, Japan landed it's first lunar probe yesterday, and India succeeded in doing so last year. Our Media has been guffawing over various mechanical problems these other countries have experienced and snort that we're still the only country which has made successful moon landings. Sure, in 1972 that might have been a cause for celebration, but today's NASA certainly has nothing to brag about. 

   Once again, we are confronted in America with a problem entirely of our own making. Blaming China is not going to help us improve, and the hegemonic attitude of our Political Class is only going to make things worse. The Universe isn't part of some kind of turf war that rival gangs fight over, though that's the position our politicians take toward every problem. As one Chinese analyst aptly said: "the US has become so narrow-minded that it not only undermines confidence in its ability to achieve greater success in space exploration but also raises concerns that it may hinder the progress of other aspiring space explorers. NASA employees are scientists...If even they become infected with Washington's pathological and vulgar atmosphere, it would be extremely disappointing."

   The problem is that American scientists, like most of the rest of our society, became infected with the Beltway/Wall Street pathological and vulgar atmosphere a long time ago. If that doesn't change, the next generation will see China reaping the benefits of space technology, while the best that Americans can hope for is watching Celebrity Big Brother on pay-per-view filmed live from a Space Station.