Heinlein's political philosophy
From
Richard Webb@1:116/901 to
all on Sat Nov 27 22:04:03 2010
Hello all!
THis was a topic of debate in this echo a couple of weeks
ago. Bob K.'s tagline re sTupidity which was a HEinlein
quote reminded me of a quote of his I rediscovered the other day. TO me *it* summarizes Heinlein's political philosophy
fairly well. IT reads:
"Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and
animals, that's all there is--so democracy, a theory
based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants
are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its
maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.
"But a democratic =form= of government is okay, as
long as it doesn't work. Any social organization does
well enough if it isn't rigid. The framework doesn't
matter as long as there is enough looseness to permit
that one man in a multitude to display his genius. Most
so-called social scientists seem to think that
organization is everything. It is almost nothing--
except when it is a straightjacket. It is the incidence
of heroes that counts, not the pattern of zeros."
-- Robert Heinlein, _Glory Road_, pp. 261-262
Regards,
Richard
... 10% of everything isn't crap, watch closely or you'll miss it!
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: (1:116/901)