The discussion following the article is nearly as worthwhile as the article itself. As a youngster Heinlein was one of my heroes, and I drank up his libertarianism uncritically. However, as I learned more about the world, it almost entirely drained away. Proceeding on to the New Republic article.
Thanks, Recusant, that New Republic article was certainly interesting. I have yo admit that I enjoyed all his books that I read, but I was not quite so critical in my thinking in those days. I wonder whst I would think of them now? I have a copy of "Starship Troopers" somewhere, but I read it first with my mind still influenced by my own armed forces experience and that ethos. I know, that to some degree, that influences my thinking even today, 50 odd years after demob, mainly in terms of honour, mutual team support, commonalty of purpose etc, but, I will admit, something of the aggression we had to learn to use, carefully, still plays a small part in my thinking. Hmm another thread in philosophy there?
Heinlein was evidently a very complex man, and not the first to go from one political extreme to another in his lifetime - just that he maintained his position in the public eye. Churchill was alleged to have said, “If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain.” Heinlein took it a bit further maybe, progressively beyond 40?