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

of bills concerning birth control and a group of bills concerning liquor
licensing, local option, and prohibition. The governor received hundreds of
letters about these two groups. Analysis showed that practically all of the
letters about the birth control measures came from Catholic groups, whereas
the letters about liquor measures came almost exclusively from Protestant
church groups.


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 Is it not obvious, then, that you have a legitimate interest in the religious
persuasion of your state legislator, your state senator, and your state
governor?
Suppose you are a Christian Scientist; how do you feel about socialized
medicine? Suppose instead that you are strong for socialized medicine; is it
of interest to you that a candidate for the legislature is a Christian Scientist?
Or should you ignore it?
Is a Jewish congressman more likely or less likely to vote to open the
United States to any and all displaced persons in Europe? Who is the more
likely to put a rider concerning Palestine on a bill to end money to Britain - a
non-Zionist Jew or an Irish Catholic from Boston?
The ramifications of the political effect of a man's religious beliefs are
endless. I do not intend to suggest answers to any of these questions; I
simply mean to make it clear that to shut your eyes to this factor is to
handicap yourself grossly in the analysis of men and issues. To vote always
for a person of your own religious persuasion, or, at the other extreme,
always to ignore a candidate's religious beliefs, is equally stupid and
unrealistic. The first attitude is narrow and un-American; the second is
custard-headed. Call 'em as you see 'em!
Now let us discuss church groups.
(Before shouts of dirty red, fascist, papist, Jew, atheist, or whatever, start
coming in, let me put this on record: Like all my great grandparents, I am
native born, an American mixture, principally Irish, with a dash of English and
French and a pinch of German. My name is Bavarian Catholic in origin; I was
brought up in the Methodist faith. I believe in democracy, personal liberty,
and religious freedom.)
American church groups as a whole are frequent sources of corruption
and confusion in politics. This is a regrettable but observable fact which runs
counter to the strong credo that if only the church people would get together
and assert their strength we could run all those dirty crooks out of town. In
fact, the church members of any community, voting as a bloc, could swing
any election, institute any reforms they wished, and make them stick.
It does not work out that way.
I do not question that we are more moral, more charitable and more
civilized as a result of church instruction and the labors of priests, ministers,
rabbis, and countless devout laymen. Nor do I question the political good
intent of church groups. The evil consequences result from good intentions
applied in too limited a field.
Only rarely do churches become interested in the way in which paving
contracts are awarded, how the oral examinations for civil service are
conducted, or the fashion in which real estate values are assessed for tax