Yeah I mean I think I generally agree with you on the third quote. I mean like I mentioned, I really kind of doubt that in practice this would actually translate into meaningfully better policies (namely that again, being a private in the Army doesn't exactly mean you have any particularly special insight into foreign policy).
Yeah I mean I think I generally agree with you on the third quote. I mean like I mentioned, I really kind of doubt that in practice this would actually translate into meaningfully better policies (namely that again, being a private in the Army doesn't exactly mean you have any particularly special insight into foreign policy).
But I think that risk aspect of it is a large part of it for Heinlein. As a political community, there is some expectation that you take on some form of responsibility for the choices that you make. I think that generally extends from his point about voting being violence, in that I think he's trying to go to pains to mention that there's a very real world outcome that emerges from voting that you hold some share of responsibility for. The logical end of that of course is that if you're going to vote for violence, who are you to hide from the actual implementation of violence?
Yeah I mean I think I generally agree with you on the third quote. I mean like I mentioned, I really kind of doubt that in practice this would actually translate into meaningfully better policies (namely that again, being a private in the Army doesn't exactly mean you have any particularly special insight into foreign policy).
But I think that risk aspect of it is a large part of it for Heinlein. As a political community, there is some expectation that you take on some form of responsibility for the choices that you make. I think that generally extends from his point about voting being violence, in that I think he's trying to go to pains to mention that there's a very real world outcome that emerges from voting that you hold some share of responsibility for. The logical end of that of course is that if you're going to vote for violence, who are you to hide from the actual implementation of violence?