cjh@CCA-UNIX@csin.UUCP (08/09/83)
This is brushed over in a line about culling out the aggressive ones and making them sheepdogs so the sheep won't give you trouble. What's happening is a little more complicated: you have to have immense self discipline to survive entry into the pool of \potential/ voters (so external revolutionaries are unlikely to be even the vaguely competent types seen in THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS) and to get any authority you have to pass a second vetting of your views (the H&MP course at OCS, which must be passed for the candidate to remain in the military at all, is bluntly described as having this purpose --- and no bunch of retired soldiers will elect a ranker over an officer!). It's sealed by giving the vote only to \retired/ soldiers, preventing any tinge of reality from entering the political process. (Those who've read Mark Clifton's novels may recall frequent remarks that wars are the old sending their young rivals out to die.)