Broderson's Speech II

The Avatar, XXII.

I concluded the previous post abruptly before going out for several hours. The point, of course, was not just that the star gates would end the welfare state but that that is why Ira Quick is trying to delay or even prevent interstellar travel. 

Chapter X had summarized the motives of other cabal members:

Stedman of the Holy Western Republic fears the collapse of his country's already threatened faith;

Makarov of Great Russia wants reunification with Byelorussia, Ukrainia and Siberia (!);

Abdallah of the Meccan Caliphate wants to prevent high-energy industrial Iran from gaining an advantage within Islam;

Garcilaso of the Andean Confederacy does not want any upset to the relationship between his corporation and its chief competitor, Aventureros Planetarios;

Broussard of Europe fears oblivion for his culture and tradition;

there are others.

They sound as mixed a bag as the anti-UN gang in Poul Anderson's earlier Psychotechnic History.

Is Broderson engaging in wishful thinking by predicting that opening the star gates will enable individuals and small outfits to displace big corporations? But let us suppose that his prediction is correct. I suggested first that a population with some welfare needs will remain on Earth and secondly that the predicted immense profits should be able to cover such needs but how will that be administered if the World Union state collapses? Well, something will replace it. Secondly, some of those individuals and small outfits will still base themselves in the Solar System and some of those will still feel some responsibility toward the home planet and its people. Terrestrials can be trained to look outward - whether or not also to travel outward - and also to organize their own communities and govern their own affairs instead of suffering under global politicians like Ira Quick!