Anyone who says Newt Gingrich doesn’t like big government hasn’t read his “National Space and Aeronautics Policy Act of 1981.” Mr. Gingrich wanted to bring government to Jupiter and Mars, as Frank Sinatra might sing, but his legislation was shot out of the sky by sane minds in Congress. 

The bill amendment  — you can’t make this up  — was designed to create governments in American colonies in space and on other planets. Here is Title IV of Gingrich’s act: 

Knysna http://californiawithkids.com/tag/nevada/ Title IV: Government of  Space Territories – Sets forth provisions for the government of space territories, including constitutional protections, the right to self- government, and admission to statehood.

 Statehood!

As for the cost of all this, the Gingrich legislation as written at the time: 

Directs the Administrator of NASA, together with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, to develop and submit to Congress a preliminary five year program including proposed annual funding requirements and a detailed research and development schedule. Requires a final five-year program, a ten-year plan, and 30-year policy goal to be submitted to Congress no later than one year after the date of enactment of thisAct. Requires that status reports and revisions to the plan be submitted annually with the budget request beginning the third year after the enactment of this Act.

In short, Mr. Gingrich was seeking a 30-year funding stream to prepare for the colonization of God knows where, statehood for democracies in God knows where, and the bureaucracies to manage it all. 

That funding would be running out just about, well, now, 2011. 

This would all make a very good ad…