If we used Pluto’s new celebrity status as an opportunity to see Earth—from afar–as part of the solar system and part of a Galactic Trade Organization, would we gain any new insights?
Pluto is a trip-and-a-half. The word pluto means both wealth (plutocracy) and hell (Pluto as god of Hades), so, already economics, myth, and religion are implicated. The word attached itself not only to an erratic planet, but also a cartoon dog and a radioactive element that does not occur naturally. The dog was named after the sometime planet, now celebrity ex-planet, in hopes that the yellowish (like oxidized plutonium at room temperature) canine would bring profits to a growing entertainment empire. So, pop culture and capitalism are involved. In addition, the spacecraft sending back all those paparazzi-quality images from Pluto is powered by plutonium, the element not only named after the planet it carried the cameras to, but also all tied up with Iran and Karen Silkwood. So add in global politics, occupational health, toxic waste, and the environment.
Perhaps despite its ongoing coming-out party, Pluto is just another overrated dwarf planet. I mean minor planet. Oops, maybe former planet. Ex-planet? The class of ex-planets is small, but even smaller is the set of celestial bodies that has been called dwarf, minor, former, and ex. Now we can add that it is craterless, has unexplained trenches, boasts gigantic ice mountains, and is “geologically active,” to boot. It’s gotten our attention.
All eyes are on Pluto. Let’s truly put our eyes on Pluto, and look back towards the third rock from the sun for a galactic take on our home world. Think future, politics, and investment.
How would Earthling “free traders” respond if Galactic Trade Organization ministers determined that a tiny planet called Earth was the best source of raw oxygen and a perfect location for the galaxy’s toxic waste?
“Free trade” proponents would then for once find themselves on the receiving end of what they have been dishing out for centuries. They could look forward to being told that their claims to “need” the oxygen were based on “junk science.” And that should they want any oxygen down the line, they would be free to pay the going rate to import it. They would be assured that hazardous waste infill would improve Pacific Basin ecology, and that previously “underdeveloped” economies would get a shot in the arm as sno-cone stands, video game arcades, and other new “development” sprung up around the toxic waste import facilities ringing the Pacific Ocean. Any Earth laws that slowed the oxygen harvest or impeded incoming galactic garbage would be labeled “trade barriers,” and the Galactic Trade Organization would toss them out.
Change Galactic Trade Organization to World Trade Organization and you have described the global situation today. Change World Trade Organization to U.S. Supreme Court, and you have described the situation within the U.S.There’s not a square inch of United States territory that is outside the domestic “free trade” zone.
The excerpt above is taken from page three of my book Gaveling Down the Rabble. There and elsewhere I have explained why I insist on putting “free trade” in quotation marks. (Short version: because it’s about neither trade nor freedom, but a denial of basic democratic rights.)
If the long view (about four billion miles) from Pluto is what it takes to get people to understand the US domestic “free trade” zone, then so be it.