In fact, that was a big issue in the War of 1812 Madison had to deal with after Jefferson. There was a huge break between the merchants and the Jeffersonian land owners. So we almost went Bankrupt. They didn't have deficit borrowing then...

Orwell was a Fabian socialist trying to promote the notion that the horrors of communism could be avoided and were not essential to collectivism, as if they were only some kind of secondary corruption from the leaders.

Yes, I remember those, I went through Time Enough for Love and The number of the Beast last year. I wish he had carried the story on.

Ayn Rand was not an "anarcho-capitalist". She explicitly denounced it and had nothing in common with David Friedman and the "libertarian" anarchists.

Heinlein wrote good science fiction but it wasn't anything like Atlas Shrugged or Ayn Rand's other novels. Ayn Rand's primary purpose in writing Atlas Shrugged was to project her image of the ideal man. It is a philosophical, not a political, novel, despite many aspects of the plot. She fully developed her philosophy in order to be able to correctly portray the ideal man.

Libertarianism is political only and is a-philosophical. Ayn Rand said that libertarians claiming affinity with her writings were half plagiarizing it and half contradicting it.

Funny...in your last sentence fragment I initially saw it as DAFT rather than DRAFT. Although I have to say either would fit

The quote Michael posted triggered a memory story fragment. The fragment being Lazarus settling on a new planet with Dora. That is why I'm leaning towards those two books. Lazarus Long was a main character in both of them.

I never know whether such errors are due to typos, autocorrect, or what.

The Founding Fathers shared these concerns. Originally, voting was restricted to landowners. To me, it still makes sense. Those who have no long-term investment are much more apt to make poor economic decisions. You sure wouldn't see landowners voting for higher taxes on themselves!

I grok Heinlein, and you should too.

As a youngster, that seemed like such an obvious idea that I immediately began to question a system that lets others who have no stake in things tell the rest how they plan to screw things up. I loved it, and still believe some requirement to earn the right to vote is needed. He even dispensed with it in some ways and went to consensus building as a way.

Lazarus pontificated on so many subjects, it may have well been him as well.

That may have been Farnhams Freehold?

Usually it can be found in most school libraries, a tattered soft cover. I am not so sure today's schools may be so willing to have such a troublemaker though.

I have believed that since I first read it when I was 9 or 10. After that I was hooked on Heinlein. He was one of the best narrative writers of all time. I have gotten every one of his books except grumbles from the grave on both audio and hard copy.

I'm surprised that Isaac Asimov's name hasn't been mentioned. His three laws of robotics gave a philosophical slant to the subject that I'm sure is prominent in the minds of artificial intelligence experts to this day. His Foundation Trilogy produced an awareness of thinking for the long view of the future, even if his future society lacked the possible increasing influence of AI and genetic engineering.

It's up to us to change the way our local school systems "educate" people. It won't be easy.

Frank Herbert....Dune....

I agree: They should all be required reading. But there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that the AFT or NEA would ever allow that to happen. They and others have far too much at stake to let the Dumb Masses become anything other than that.

Indeed. In fact, in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, one character asks another, "Are you a Randite?" I wondered how many readers got the reference.

Heinlein has always been my first favorite sci-fi author. He also wrote one sci-fi-fantasy novella that I enjoyed for its pure American spirit, Lost Legacy.
With all the fascination with super heroes in Marvel films, Lost Legacy would make a terrific film with traditional heroes and villains. Men of the MInd versus Looters.

Sounds like it might be either

Notebooks of Lazarus Long

Or possibly

Time Enough for Love

Yes, it was. My "fat fingers" might type it grojk or grokl instead of groke. ;^)

Heinlein was always one of my favorite authors.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was exceptional.

I would also nominate the following as good sci-fi writers...

Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle (and the collaborations between them)
Michael Z Williamson
David Weber

Agree about restricting the voting franchise to those who have done some kind of service, including armed service. But also: building an army in which "everybody fights, everybody works", and refusing to train anyone to be an officer unless he first was "a trained trooper, bloodied under fire, a veteran of [battle]." That, and not over-officer-ing the military and assigning officers to do fiddlework.