Introducing Egalitarianism II

Poul Anderson, Shield, XIII.

See Introducing Egalitarianism.

Quarles:

Egalitarianism, like Christianity and democracy, is a label;

the contents of a bottle may change although at the same time people continue "'...to identify the label with the bottle...'" (p. 102);

(I could not possibly agree more. This might be the biggest single source of misunderstanding.)

democracy has been identified with freedom although a democratically elected government can impose controls on individuals;

democracies, unlike aristocracies or monarchies, have "blue laws" (p. 103);

(Do they?)

moral liberalism stems from declining democracy;

although legislators and principal executives are still elected, decreasing numbers of people vote;

the reasons are poverty, poor education and a realization that, "'...given the requirements of world empire...'" (ibid.), government is by bureaus controlled by a few strong and clever men;

to get anything done, it is necessary to approach not legislators but agencies that interpret and administer existing laws.

To be continued.