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

pickings for an agitator. But let him miss seven meals -
The second crisis is amorphous but of even more deadly danger. We
have entered the Atomic Era - but we are not yet used to the idea.
Have you read the Smyth Report?3
Do you know what the Smyth Report is? It is the War
Department's report on the atom bomb and is titled Atomic Energy for
Military Purposes by H.D. Smyth. It is available in any bookstore and most
newsstands at $1.25. It is dull reading but quite understandable and is easily
the most important document to the human race since the Sermon on the
Mount.
8
 I won't try to tell you what it should mean to you. That's up to you. You are
a free American citizen, for a while yet, at least. With good luck you should
live another five or ten years. Whether or not you and your kids live longer
than that depends on how you interpret the Smyth Report. But you must
interpret it for yourself- no guardian angel will help you.
Get it and read it. Then get a copy of your own precinct list and start
investigating this year's crop of candidates. If your interpretation of the Smyth
Report and the world events behind it is correct, there is still a chance that
the Star-Spangled Banner will continue to wave o'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave.
Just a chance - that's all. But get busy, neighbour. _ There's work to be
done.


CHAPTER II
How to Start
"Put down your bucket where you are!"

The late Booker T Washington,4 in his life-long attempts to advise his
people on how to help themselves, had a favorite anecdote about a sailing
ship, becalmed and out of fresh water off the coast of South America. After
many days they sighted another ship, a steam ship, and signalled, "Bring us
water. We are dying of thirst." The other ship sent back this message, "Put
down your bucket where you are!"
They were in the broad mouth of the Amazon, afloat in millions of gallons
of fresh water - and did not know it!
Here is how to start in politics:
Get your telephone book. Look up the party of your registration - or, if you
are not registered in a party, the party which most nearly fits your views. I
don't care what party it is, but let us suppose for illustration that it is the
Republican Party. You will find a listing something like Republican County
Committee, Associated Republican Clubs, Republican Assembly, or perhaps
several such. Telephone one of them.
Say, "My name is Joseph Q. (or Josephine W.) Ivory tower. I am a
registered voter at 903 Farflung Avenue. Can you put me in touch with my
local club?"
The voice at the other end will say, 'Just a minute. Do you know what
ward you are in?"
You say no. (It's at least even money that you don't know, if you are a