JoSH@RUTGERS.ARPA (06/22/83)
From: JoSH <JoSH@RUTGERS.ARPA>
From: SSteinberg.SoftArts at MIT-MULTICS
Was "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" really libertarian fiction
just because a bunch of characters spouted the libertarian party line?
"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" predates the Libertarian Party by ten
years or so. I would say that if any spouting is being done, the
libertarians are spouting Heinlein's lines. "tMiaHM" is considered
libertarian by everyone I know who considers themselves libertarian.
It is listed among the contents of the Aurora library in "Alongside
Night", beside books by Rand, von Mises, and Rothbard. Indeed,
Heinlein's writings can be taken on the whole as a good definition of
"mainstream" libertarian thought.
... Remember, they were all living in communes on the moon. Loners
(male or female) didn't do too well until they learned how to
accomodate to the society.
"Libertarian" doesn't mean "anybody can do what he pleases". Heinlein
is a strong believer in knowing what you have to do to get along with
the universe, which includes society. At the basis of libertarian thought
is the concept that the individual, not the state, is the basis of morality.
This is strongly expressed in the book.
It has been seven or eight years since I read the book but if I
remember correctly the plot revolved around a colonial rebellion in
which the moon colony was being economically exploited by an out of
touch Earth government.
Indeed. It is one of at least four Heinleins dealing with revolution--
there are also Red Planet, Between Planets, and Revolt in 2100--but the
situation of a government economically exploiting a colony, or anyone
else, is a common real-world occurance, and not the exclusive property
of any one ideology.
Speaking of books on revolution, I would like to second
decvax!wivax!linus!utzoo!watmath!watcgl!gcsherwood@Ucb-Vax's recommendation
of A Planet in Arms by Daniel Barr. I anxiously haunted the bookshops
for other books by Barr for some time after I "discovered" it, with
unfortunate lack of success. Let me also mention in this context
Alexis Gilliland's Rosinante books, which are of comparable quality.
The whole book [tMiaHM] is actually rather Marxist in tone.
Baloney. The revolution, the basic reasons for it, the government formed
therefrom, and Heinlein's sympathies, are all obviously based on the
United States Revolutionary War. They even issue a Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 2076.
After all, the bad guys put up the money to develop a moon colony,
and arranged to populate the area. The Marxists usually point out
that the colonialists exploit the native population which has an
intrinsic ownership of land and their own ouput.
The moon was a PRISON colony in the book. You will find that places like
it abound in Siberia.
--JoSH
-------gcsherwood@watcgl.UUCP (Geoffrey C. Sherwood) (06/27/83)
Actually Re: Donald F. Barr. I made a mistake when I posted my original "where is he now" article on Barr. The correct name is Donald, not Daniel, Barr. -geoff sherwood- -U. of Waterloo-