"I think that exploration and colonization will HAVE to be supported by the government to get started- its fine to say it should only be done in a capitalist environment by corporations trying to make a profit. The fact is work and money are required to MAKE it profitable to go to space. We humans created the concept of government because, sometimes, only a government has the power to do what is needed..."

We humans have always created a govt for collective security. The rest is secondary. But we have made it a law that anyone going into space requires the consent of govt [again based on security issues].

Now, the fact is that govt has to be part of going into space- that private sector could do it all is foolish- impractical and never would happen in real world. And let's not forget that the govt is "of, for, and by the people"- it's not a case of "us" against "them".

But the govt has understand what it's doing- namely that it's opening the Space frontier. And it has to understand that opening the Space frontier is not something that might happen in the dim centuries into the future- so therefore it's nothing they have to concern themselves with at the present. And if opening the space Frontier is not possible NOW, then this shouldn't be something idly "supposed" but instead it's something that needs to be proven one way or the other.

Now, a common excuse for not opening the space frontier is the idea that there isn't enough money. This is utter nonsense. It's vaguely reasonable to assume that there is no profitable reason for going into space [if you are generally clueless about the space environment], but the problem is not a lack of money. Nor is it an excuse to say that it would take too long before space can be profitable. Though doing anything in Space does have a high threshold cost. This partially can be solved by lowering this cost [business can do this- but so far NASA has proven incapable of doing this- and I think we can safely assume it won't in the future], but main thing is there enough possibility of something being profitable- this can be solved by exploration and this can be solved in the realm of law- without proper laws nothing is ever profitable. [though no manmade law can defy rules of economics- laws can't create supply nor create human desire/demand- though short unsustainable perversion is possible which create illusions- and resulting with disastrous and painful consequences]
If the space environment can be profitable, then the sooner we get there the better for humankind, if Space is unprofitable then why are we spending much money on it? We can find other things which are amusing to us.

BUT we already know that some of the space environment is profitable- both in the sense of providing something more valuable than it cost and strictly in terms business balance sheets. In terms of military needs- space is not only profitable it's vital to our security. In terms of balance sheets it's vital to news networks and mass media. It's profitable in terms of communications and of course valuable in terms finding and managing resources, and predicting weather, etc.