Influential science fiction author Robert Heinlein (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Puppet Masters) was a pretty keen observer of human nature:
“Political tags—such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth—are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”
To which I would add that those who want people to be controlled are usually those who crave the power to control them. So…politicians. But I interrupted. (Sorry.) Heinlein continues:
“The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
