The presidential election of 2012 is a key event in history, which will fundamentally change the United States for the next 100
years. The winner of the 2012 presidential
election is….Nehemiah Scudder.
The following is an excerpt of an interview with Robert Heinlein, from October 1952.
This election occurs in Robert Heinlein’s “Future History”
series of novels, mostly written between 1939 and 1950. Scudder is a televangelist, backed by
extremely wealthy interests, political connections and a wickedly effective
propaganda campaign. In Heinlein’s future history, Scudder establishes a conservative religious theocracy. The next election does not occur for 100
years.
The following is an excerpt of an interview with Robert Heinlein, from October 1952.
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"As for the idea that we could lose our freedom by
succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider
it possible. I hope that it is not
probable. But there is a latent deep
strain of religious fanaticism in this, our culture; it is rooted in our
history and it has broken out many times in the past. It is with us now; there has been a sharp
rise in strongly evangelical sects in this country in recent years, some of
which hold beliefs theocratic in the extreme, anti-intellectual,
anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian.
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult or religion will
legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and
will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize
early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground
all heretics. This is equally true
whether the faith is Communism or Holy-Rollerism; indeed it is the bounden duty
of the faithful to do so. The custodians
of the True Faith cannot logically admit tolerance of heresy to be a virtue.
Nevertheless this business of legislating religious beliefs
into law has never been more than sporadically successful in this
country—Sunday closing laws here and there, birth control legislation in spots,
the Prohibition experiment, temporary enclaves of theocracy such as Voliva’s
Zion, Smith’s Nauvoo, a few others. The
country is split up into such a variety of faiths and sects that a degree of
uneasy tolerance now exists from expedient oppositions against each other.
Could it be otherwise here?
Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over
the country? Perhaps not—but a
combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques
of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday’s efforts look like a
corner store compared to Sears Roebuck.
Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here
on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a
good large dose of anti-“furriners” [anti-foreigners] in general and anti-intellectuals
here at home and the result might be something quite frightening—particularly
when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as
pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in
Washington. "
Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)--------
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Addendum 2)
The modern relevance of Heinlein's interview is seen in the following speech by Paul Broun, a high-ranking Republican member of the U.S. House Committee on Space, Science and Technology:
“God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. It’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. There’s a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I believe that the Earth is about 9,000 years old. I believe that it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says. And what I’ve come to learn is that it’s the manufacturer’s handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually. How to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all our public policy and everything in society. And that’s the reason, as your congressman, I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that.”
"What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough - another serious terrorist attack, another financial meltdown - some one person will come forward and say, 'Give me total power, and I will solve this problem.' That is how the Roman Republic fell....That is how democracy dies. And if something is not done to improve the level of civic knowledge, that is what you should worry about at night….I am not a pessimist, but I am not an optimist about the future of American democracy.”
See my earlier post: http://debatablypolitical.blogspot.com/2012/09/rome-didnt-fall-in-day.html.
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References:
The interview with Robert Heinlein was published in a volume containing the novellas "Revolt in 2100" and "Methuselah's Children", published by Baen Publishing Enterprises, PO Box 1403, NY, NY in 1999.
Paul Broun speech:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/paul-broun-evolution-big-bang_n_1944808.html
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Addendum 1)
Mitt Romney expressed his views on Mormonism and abortion in this radio interview, available on YouTube: Romney dispels any illusions that he actually held "pro-choice" views in the past, or would govern from a "pro-choice" point of view. His belief in the literal prophecies of his church is also clear.
Addendum 2)
The modern relevance of Heinlein's interview is seen in the following speech by Paul Broun, a high-ranking Republican member of the U.S. House Committee on Space, Science and Technology:
“God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. It’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. There’s a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I believe that the Earth is about 9,000 years old. I believe that it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says. And what I’ve come to learn is that it’s the manufacturer’s handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually. How to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all our public policy and everything in society. And that’s the reason, as your congressman, I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that.”
Representative Paul Broun (R., Georgia), Sept. 27, 2012
Emphasis is mine. Heinlein could not have written better dialog for one of his characters, but it seems that Representative Broun thought of these words all by himself.
Addendum 3)
I find Heinlein’s fears similar in many ways to the sentiments of David Souter, retired Supreme Court Justice, in an interview on September 17, 2012. Souter is concerned about the "pervasive civic ignorance" of today.
See my earlier post: http://debatablypolitical.blogspot.com/2012/09/rome-didnt-fall-in-day.html.
------------------
References:
The interview with Robert Heinlein was published in a volume containing the novellas "Revolt in 2100" and "Methuselah's Children", published by Baen Publishing Enterprises, PO Box 1403, NY, NY in 1999.
Paul Broun speech:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/paul-broun-evolution-big-bang_n_1944808.html
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