Martian diversity: A government for pluralistic communities on Mars

A government will be necessary to handle society-wide issues in the future Martian society, such as conflict resolution, security, and the distribution of resources. Additionally, because of the difficulty in sourcing willing and able candidates to move to Mars, missions will need to be an international effort with candidates sourced globally. This article considers how a pluralistic Martian population, taken with the severe living conditions on Mars, requires a form of modified liberalism in which the personal values of the Martian population guide public policy while simultaneously limiting it. I suggest that the traits of liberalism coupled with practical limitations, both informed by the moral values common to the worldviews of the diverse population, offer a favorable medium for balancing individual protections from abuse while ensuring that necessary actions can be taken to secure community survival. Utilizing common moral values to inform both the liberties and limitations of the diverse society will help mitigate barriers to successful cooperation and ultimately heighten the chances of community survival on Mars. A practical approach to extracting the values of individuals in a diverse society is presented, and how these values might be implemented to guarantee and limit individual freedoms in a Martian society is discussed.