We need to blast off into space sooner than later to escape this tyranny. We must declare independence.
Heck, government is even trying to stake claim to outer space:
Even worse, imagine if we stumbled upon something like a galactic council of sorts. They'd nuke us to oblivion for being the savages we are. (Actually, if they are more civilized and technologically advanced than us, it's more likely for them to only forbid us from expanding any further, but you get the general idea.)