• NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    14
    ·
    1 month ago

    Authoritarianism is when taxes pay for defense and civil space program?

    Yeah I get it, out military is bloated, does bad things, and we keep the industrial complex going buy selling weapons to almost anyone who will buy them.

    The government paying SpaceX to build rockets is not authoritarianism.

    • muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      Well the sad reality of the world is u need weapons otherwise ull get ukrained by some imperialists. And the economic benefits from production of scale means the more countries putting into the same pot to build the same interoperable systems makes it cheaper for everyone.

      • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 month ago

        The US is bordered by friendly nations on the north and south, oceans on the east and west, and has a stockpile of thousands of potentially world ending nukes. You could cut the pentagons budget down to the price of a big Mac and fries and nobody would be able to invade.

          • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 month ago

            Yes. Have you heard of fuel and supply chains? D-day nearly failed, and the allies had a staging ground right across the channel. Turns out amphibious assaults against an entrenched enemy are really hard.

              • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 month ago

                They’re not. The US has as many privately owned guns as it does people. The idea behind arming the populace was (drumroll please) to repel foreign invasions.

                Also, the military weapons we’ve stockpiled for decades, making up the largest armory in the world by a wide margin, aren’t going to vanish into thin air if you cut the pentagons budget.

                Finally, if the US faced an existential threat they’d unload on the aggressor with nukes.

                Nobody’s going to invade the mainland US. They’d be stupid to try and they’d end up getting wiped out.

                • muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 month ago

                  As someone who doesnt live in the use who relies on there global dominance for freedom they better keep selling us weapons.

                  • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 month ago

                    You could fund your own defense, so we could get some of the social programs you’re always throwing in our faces.

    • Poayjay@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 month ago

      The Ukraine war has demonstrated what a military asset Starlink is. You can control drones in real time with no direct line of sight.

    • yeahiknow3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      You could attribute any payment, no matter how corrupt, to “national defense and a civil space program.”

    • ashok36@lemmy.world
      cake
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      *paying SpaceX way less for rocket launches than they would any of their competitors.

      SpaceX, Musk or not, has tremendously reduced the cost to launch stuff to LEO. I’d rather give SpaceX $12 than ULA $24 for fewer launches.