On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 17:47:58 -0600, "Logan Kearsley"
wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 7, 2:40 pm, "Logan Kearsley" wrote:
"Space Cadet" wrote in message

ps.com...

Hi All
Got this email from a friend of mine:

Hi all, I am working on a new lesson for my second graders focusing on
Moon Laws. If YOU were given the task of creating a constitution,
laws,
bill of rights for people in a future lunar colony what would YOU
include? I'd love to have your input! Thanks,

My first thought is that doesn't the OST say or at least imply that
the country that launches an object/probe/spacecraft is responsible
for said object? And whatever rule of law applies to that country
would apply to said object?
Even if you would go with a privately funded moon colony. That
company would be based on some nation on Earth, and whatever laws
apply to that country would apply to the colony?

Yes, but... that doesn't mean that the people living in the colony have
to agree with the Earthlings who signed that treaty. They could just declare
themselves soveriegn and say "*we* never signed the OST, so bugger off".

Well wait a minute most of the people living there will have been born
on Earth,and be from one of the nations that signed the OST. So,its

Yes. So? Most of them probably wouldn't *want* to declare independence;
there are lots of very good practical reasons *not* to. But there's nothing
to stop them from doing so if they *did* want to.

All the things that stop most terrestrial separatist groups from declaring
independence and forming their own nations, would still apply. You will
note that most separatist groups do *not* in fact declare independence,
and when one does it's a fairly traumatic process with a high failure
rate. And it's not just a matter of brute force being used to squash
the separatists, either. Building a nation, or nation-substitute, is
hard even when nobody is opposing you.


There's nothing magical or more special about nations than any other group
of people that causes them to exist on their own or by Authoritative Permission
of someone else.

However, nations that *do* exist, tend to be pretty good about continuing
to exist. Part of that is not just politely waving bye-bye when a bunch
of separatists decide to lop off a chunk of the nation's territory. Heck,
an even bigger part is arranging things so that the separatists are never
a local majority and/or never manage to make the case for independence.


not quite that easy. And their children, even if born on the moon,
will likely be claimed as citizens from the country their parents were
born in. Sort of like kids born at military bases in other nations.

Why should they care if some other nation considers them to be citizens? It
just means they get double citizenship for free.

Citizenship, free? Citizenship means having to pay taxes. And comes
with other obligations like obeying laws and serving on juries or even
in armies. Being so obligated to two nations, is more expensive than
one, even if both governments are being nice and cooperative about it.

If they're *not* being cooperative, dual citizenship can be an enormous
hassle. For example, and not hypothetical, you can be required to spend
the years between age 18 and 20 serving in the armies of two different
nations. Pick one, and for the rest of your life risk prison if you
ever set foot in a country that has an extradition treaty with the other.


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