"'...one reason we've come as far as we have, is that nobody has ever forced the whole race into a copy of himself - we've always had variety, always had the rebel and the heretic. We need them!'"
-Poul Anderson, Planet Of No Return, Chapter 18, p. 126.
I agree that we need rebels and heretics but does everyone? Sometimes, at least. I imagine that many Americans approved of rebels in the Soviet Union but disapproved of rebels in the United States? In a bureaucratic dictatorship with a planned economy, some "conservatives" would conserve that status quo whereas other "conservatives" would seek to restore lost freedoms.
Currently, some of us support Muslim women who refuse to wear the hijab in countries where it is compulsory and also support Muslim women who insist on wearing it in a country where it has been banned. I think that that stance is consistent and liberating.
It is rousing to read a novel where the hero applauds rebels and heretics and it also instructive to consider practical applications of this principle.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And your own argument here comes close to supporting my personal views: that the most desirable and workable type of government is a state (under whatever form) with LIMITED powers. And I also argue that such a regime would also be likely to have a mostly free enterprise economy. Because a rigidly supervised economy controlled by the government means that the state would NOT actually be truly limited in its powers.
Sean
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