"Hello Abram, what brings you here?"
Abram D. Jackson was an old friend that Randall had worked with some years before on an issue of space law. Abram was old but spry with a full mane of gray hair. He was at the age where he respected no one unless they were deserving of his respect.
"Hello Randall, I need to speak with you about an issue of space law again."
"Yes?" said Randall.
"Yes," said Abram. "You remember my nephew, Martin?"
"Oh yes, I met him virtually at that graduation party last year, how is he?"
"He's fine. He's off world now. And he’s signed up for a tour of duty in the Asteroid Belt, shipped out on a conveyor a week ago."
"Well, isn't that interesting. I suppose that is why you want to speak with me, because of the Asteroid Belt, I mean?"
Abram smiled, "Randall you know as well as I that we have to do something to prevent the same mistakes in the Asteroid Belt as we allowed to occur on the moon. We simply cannot allow the Earth’s governments to get their way and declare another open commons. What a name, it sounds like freedom instead of government chains. Randall, these open commons declarations have caused us too much in lost opportunities, too much in squandered resources, too much government padding their pockets at the expense of the individual. We've lost momentum, if it wasn't for the Mars settlements we would be backsliding our way through history."
"Abram, I agree with much of what you say, but I also believe that the treaties of the open commons prevented much strife among the nations. The price for peace was a little less economic growth perhaps, but that has to be balanced against the waste any wars would have cost. For all we know, we may have come out ahead in the trade-off."
"Yes Randall, I have heard the argument many times. But the fact remains that more than economic well-being has been lost, we have lost a rationale, a motivation for striving, for setting goals and pursuing them. Instead, we limp along here on Earth. But the settlers on Mars still have the drive to better themselves and I want to make sure that drive eventually takes them to the Asteroid Belt."
"Well, I won't argue with you Abram, the people on Mars and elsewhere should be allowed to do whatever and pursue whatever government they see fit. But what does this have to do with you and me?"
"Randall, I'll be blunt, the law has destroyed initiative here on Earth. Everything that someone might think to do is circumscribed by law and regulation. I'm sure we all commit criminal offenses each day without knowing it. Just as governments have made sure the moon is off-limits to private enterprise, unless that enterprise jumps through bureaucratic hoops, that's what they want to do to the Asteroid Belt, tighten their control over something they will never risk their own lives to develop.
“Look at what has happened to Shackleford Energy, with their own capital at risk they set up the first refueling stations in orbit using resources from the moon. They took the risk and got it going before any of the bureaucrats could figure out what was happening. Shackleford made a good profit to begin with, then laws were passed, in your field Space Law, that declared Shackleford to be 'working for the good of all mankind' and behind those fine words was nothing but deceit. What they really meant is that Shackleford would be working for the good of the bureaucrats, limited in profit margins, chained to bureaucratic reviews if they ever wanted to expand. Old Bill Shackleford's descendants got out of the business rather than be so proscribed and I bet old man Shackleford would have done the same.
“So now the refueling stations in orbit, instead of courting customers, court bureaucrats, and good luck to the customer that thinks he can get as much fuel as he needs. It's all highly controlled, and that is where you and I come in."
"Abram, I'm concerned about what you say about the law, it is justice that is the concern of the law, not politics. And I admit that sometimes the powerful do get the law they want, not the law they deserve, so I will continue to entertain this conversation, with the understanding that I won't do anything that is illegal, even if the law is not equitable."
"The point I'm driving at Randall is that you or no one else will have to do anything illegal in regard to the Belt if there is no law to proscribe such actions."
"You mean anarchy, Abram?"
"No, Randall, I mean law of the locals, by the locals, and for the locals. I mean law without bureaucrats millions of kilometers away restricting and knotting up people’s lives that they have no interest in other than to use as pawns or revenue sources.
“Look, the Mars Republic understands what it is like to have restrictions imposed by bureaucrats without any skin in the game. They have no desire to extend their Republic to the Asteroid Belt. They have promoted a free and self-governing populous on Mars. I sometimes represent them here on Earth and what we want you to do is your best to see that no laws can be passed that will infringe on the rights of those going to the Belt.”
“What you say about the Earth bureaucrats is probably true Abram. They did manage to get their paws on the near-earth asteroid resources also, turning that industry into a regulated sluggard. But I will have to think about this, to use the law to promote interests, even if they are for the better, is not the way I learned law. Law is for righting wrongs mostly, protecting freedoms usually, and redressing grievances always. This is certainly a worthwhile endeavor, but it is a little political, if you don't mind my saying so.”
“That's okay. You think about it, but remember, if you think too long it might be too late. Thanks Randall, and good-bye.”
“It was good to see you Abram, good-bye.”
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