holdfast <http://www.blogger.com/profile/15206911009978107266> said...
This thread made me think of Heinlein - did Jaltcoh read any Heinlein
growing up?
On Obamacare:
"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does
not want merely because you think it would be good for him."
--- Robert A. Heinlein (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
On the culture:
"A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners.
Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness,
of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot..."
--- Robert A. Heinlein
On American democracy:
"The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen
to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies
throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy
in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no
internal feedback for self-correction. It depends solely on the wisdom
and self-restraint of citizens... which is opposed by the folly and lack
of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a
democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public
interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that
he votes his own self-interest as he sees it... which for the majority
translates as 'Bread and Circuses.'
'Bread and Circuses' is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for
which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But
once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or
parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when
the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses
without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot
stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its
weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader---the barbarians
enter Rome."
--- Robert A. Heinlein
On poverty:
Robert A Heinlein: Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition
of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded --- here and
there, now and then --- are the work of an extremely small minority,
frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all
right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from
creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the
people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."
1/26/11 6:36 PM
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
