"Robert A. Heinlein - Take back your Government" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

During the next campaign I was a county committeeman, a state
committeeman, and a district chairman. Shortly after that campaign I was
appointed county organizer for my party. And so on. It does not end. The
scope and importance of the political work assigned to a volunteer fireman is
limited only by his strength and his willingness to accept responsibility.
Nor is the work futile. The volunteer organization with which I presently
became affiliated recalled a mayor, kicked out a district attorney, replaced the
governor with one of our own choice, and completely changed the political
complexion of one of the largest states - all within four years. I did not do it
alone-naturally not, nothing is ever done alone in politics-but it was done by a
comparatively small group of unpaid volunteers almost all of whom were as
ignorant of politics at the start as I was.
Or let me tell you about Susie. Susie is a wonderful girl. She and her
husband volunteered about the same time I did. Susie had a small baby; she
packed him into a market basket, stuck him into the back of the family car
and went out and did field work.
In the following four years Susie replaced a national committeeman with a
candidate of her own choice, elected a congressman, and managed the
major portion of the campaign which gave us a new governor. She topped
her career finally by being the indispensable key person in nominating a
presidential candidate of one of the two major parties. I'll tell more about that
later; it's quite a story.
All this time Susie was having babies about every third year. She never
accepted a cent for herself, but it became customary, after the house filled
up, for the party to see to it that Susie had a maid during a campaign. The
rest of the time she kept house, did the cooking, and reared her kids
unassisted.
During the war she added riveting on bombers during the night shift to her
other activities.


15
 We can't all be Susies. But remember this - all that Susie had to offer was
honesty, willingness, and an abiding faith in democracy. She had no money
and has none now ... and she had no political connections nor experience
when she started.
I could fill a whole book with case histories of people like Susie. Most of
them are people of very limited income who are quite busy all day earning
that income. One of the commonest excuses from the person who knows that
he should take part in civic business is: "I would like to but I am just so
tarnation busy making a living for my wife and kids that I can't spare the time,
the money, nor the energy."
The middle class in Germany felt the same way; it brought them Hitler, the
liquidation of their class, and the destruction of their country. The next time
you feel like emulating them, remember Susie and her four kids. Or Gus. Gus
drove a truck from four a.m. to noon each day; he had a wife and two kids.
By sleeping in the afternoons and catching a nap after midnight he managed
to devote many of his evenings to politics. In less than three years he was
state chairman of the young people's club of his party and one of the top
policy makers in the state organization.