Caught this letter to the editor in the Peoria Journal Star over the weekend (why yes, I do travel a lot…funny you should ask). East Peoria resident Robin Miller points out the importance of space-based assets to the high-tech weaponry now being used in Iraq, and how our lack of rapid, responsive access to space leaves us vulnerable to attack against those assets. He builds a case (also articulated elsewhere) for a commercial/military partnership along the lines of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, by which the military would subsidize commercial access to space in exchange for use of commercial spacecraft for military “spacelift” purposes in times of need.
It doesn’t say so in the letter, but Miller is associated with the Libertarian Party in Illinois, and ran for U.S. Senate in 1996.
At least this Libertarian gets it, but I’m not sure about the rest. Almost anything space related is viewed as “Big Government” and must be opposed. Still, perhaps the privatization aspect will appeal to Libertarians at large. I’ll fire the concept at one of my rabid Libertarian friends and see what sticks.