"Only this is clear: our civilization will eventually settle amongst the stars -- or there won't be a civilization. If we linger on earth for too long, we will either destroy ourselves or, perhaps worse, snuff out the sparks of freedom and creativity that distinguish us from the sludge. [...] Oftentimes, liberty consists of having another place to go. That's the story of most people wholive in this country; our ancestors came here looking for unfettered freedom and opportunity, and they found it. [...] the best way to preserve freedom is to expand the empire of liberty in as many directions as possible -- especially upward [in space]. [...] the dead hand of government will always encroach on any given patch of territory -- and so the key to freedom is for free people to stay one step ahead of the encroachers."
-James Pinkerton