Paterson_2002abstr

 

THE REGENCY OF UNITED SOCIETIES IN SPACE

DECLARATION OF EMERGENCE AND CONSITUTION

AND

THE REPUBLIC OF SOL

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND CONSTITUTION:

 

A COMPARISON OF CHOICES FOR A SPACE-BORNE SOCIETY

 

Allen D. Patterson

Mars Society Member, Air Traffic Controller,

Charter Member of the National Air traffic Controllers Association,

Member Denver Mad Scientists

im4ever@peoplepc.com

 

The Republic Of Sol’s Constitution had its beginnings when I read THE HIGH FRONTIER by Dr. Gerard O’Neill. Upon completing that book I realized that for the free society that Dr. O’Neill envisioned to become a reality, a foundation of law needed to be in place. For the protection of those would be governed by this foundation of law it would need to be in place even before one person lived or worked in space full time. When groups of everyday people emigrate to space to live and work in space full time, a whole different foundation of law must be in place to protect those who first go there. Also this foundation must ensure that the freedoms of a solar system wide space-borne society are not impinged upon by the government that is needed to provide the services demanded by such a society.

 

That is why I prepared a constitution for a hypothetical nation in space, the Republic Of Sol (ROS). That nation would be comprised of free orbital space stations and settlements, either on the moon, Mars or other extraterrestrial planets or moons. For this constitution, I borrowed extensively from one of the most successful governmental constitutions on the planet: the U. S. Constitution.

 

Initially the first draft of the ROUSIS Constitution was published in the United Societies In Space publication, the Space Governance Journal, in 1999.

 

After examining both the ROUSIS and ROS documents it was clear they differed radically from on another. One constitution and declaration was founded on freedom and individual rights, while the other constitution and declaration was founded on governmental control and limited collective rights. It was then that I had the idea for this paper, to compare the two views; the ROUSIS Declaration Of Emergence and Constitution and the ROS Declaration Of Independence and Constitution.