Despite my misgivings - we should probably attempt to colonize Antarctica and the continental shelves before other planets - I think it's a good idea to coloniz

Despite my misgivings - we should probably attempt to colonize Antarctica and the continental shelves before other planets - I think it's a good idea to colonize at least one other planet before a truly global government bans space travel. Why? Because one thing governments hate is competition. Think of the European colonial powers - they lost all of their colonies eventually, some quite violently (e.g. USA, South America, Indochina, some Africa), and others out of political / economic necessity (most of Africa.) And sometimes the colonies are more powerful - USA v UK, Brazil v Portugal, Mexico v Spain (maybe) - which makes them threats, especially in the near term after a secession. I think some of the notions regarding space colony threats is overblown - after all, space is huge, huge enough to spread political or economic competition pretty thin.