mwm@ucbvax.ARPA (Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer) (06/23/85)
In article <166@pedsgd.UUCP> bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) writes: >On a lighter note, I recall a saying " Democracy is based on the >notion that 1000 people are smarter than any 1" ( or something >like this. Does anyone know where this comes from? ). It seems >to me that Liberterians believe that every individual is smarter >than any group of 1000. I find this just as dubious. That's from Robert A. Heinlein, via his favorite mouthpiece, Lazarus Long. You can find it in "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" as: Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. and Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides? I'd recommend this book to everyone, but RAH espouses things so far out of fashion that the left compares him to the Nazis. Just imagine, thinking that personal responsibility and meeting your commitments are good ideas. Not to mention attacking the church, slavery, and espousing freedom in general (How do I draw a frustrated snarl here?). <mike -- After 5 years, a quote worthy of Netnews (and it works as disclaimer!): "Truth is variable."