"Robert A. Heinlein - Take back your Government" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

based on the idea that democracy is worth the trouble and can be made to
work by ordinary people.
If you can go along with me on that I don't care what party you belong to. I
am registered in one of the two major parties, so chances are at least fifty-
fifty that you can guess my affiliation, but any party bias I let creep into this
book will be an oversight. The techniques of politicking are not the property of
any party.
From politics I have come to believe the following:
(1) Most people are basically honest, kind, and decent.
(2) The American people are wise enough to run their own affairs. They
do not need Fuehrers, Strong Men, Technocrats, Commissars, Silver Shirts,
Theocrats, or any other sort of dictator.
(3) Americans have a compatible community of ambitions. Most of them
don't want to be rich but do want enough economic security to permit them to
raise families in decent comfort without fear of the future. They want the least
government necessary to this purpose and don't greatly mind what the other
fellow does as long as it does not interfere with them living their own lives. As
a people we are neither money mad nor prying; we are easy-going and
anarchistic. We may want to keep up with the Joneses - but not with the
Vanderbilts. We don't like cops.
(4) Democracy is not an automatic condition resulting from laws and
constitutions. It is a living; dynamic process which must be worked at by you
yourself- or it ceases to be democracy, even if the shell and form remain.


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 (5) One way or another, any government which remains in power is a
representative government. If your city government is a crooked machine,
then it is because you and your neighbours prefer it that way - prefer it to the
effort of running your own affairs. Hitler's government was a popular
government; the vast majority of Germans preferred the rule of gangsters to
the effort of thinking and doing for themselves. They abdicated their
franchise.
(6) Democracy is the most efficient form of government ever invented by
the human race. On the record, it has worked better in peace and in war than
fascism, communism, or any other form of dictatorship. As for the mythical
yardstick of "benevolent" monarchy or dictatorship - there ain't no such
animal!
(7) A single citizen, with no political connections and no money, can be
extremely effective in politics.
I left the most important proposition to the last, on purpose. It is contrary
to the beliefs of many but it happens to be true. You yourself can be a strong
political force at less cost per evening spent in politics than spending that
same evening at the movies and at less effort than it takes to be a
scoutmaster, a good bridge player, or a radio hobbyist- about the effort it
takes to be a Sunday School teacher, an active ETA member, or stamp
collector.
You may possibly think me unrealistic in some of the opinions expressed
above. I may be self-deluded but I got those opinions from active politics
through many campaigns. If your own experience in politics is really