Translation of excerpts from Robert Heinlein’s book “Take Your Government Back” - part 8

Political clubs

Why do we need political clubs, if, as I have already written, elections are won not at political clubs, but at polling stations? Political clubs are difficult to create, maintain, and they require constant attention. Why all the trouble?
A political club is needed in order to gather pre-election agitators, hold them together, and provide a sufficient minimum of control to direct their joint actions.

However, the possibilities of the political club are much greater. He is the main factor in keeping your volunteers working. Bypassing voters is a pretty lonely task, after a day or evening devoted to him, it may seem to a person who does this work that his work does not make sense, and is important only for himself. Thoughts arise - and not to send it all away, let the country take care of itself, why should you do all this without hearing a word of praise for your work? And here comes the company of other volunteers involved in politics.

After all, all that is needed for a sad agitator is to talk to the same people as he, who also experienced trials in polling stations, find out how things are going on with agitation in the neighboring district, and what are the chances of winning elections. He needs to hear the ever-encouraging comments of hardened bison campaigning, and the ever-optimistic forecasts of the campaign managers. At the club, you will hear gossip about what the governor said to Joe Temporaryman this Wednesday at a closed conference, and Joe himself will add to this all the good things he thinks about the governor. You will find out that Mr. Excellency decided to run from the third district to the congress, and agree that this pompous type will not get the slightest chance to win the election, unless it ceases to spend all its time on performances in organizations consisting of the same pompous types.
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Thus, you will spend a little more time in the political club than you were going to, drink a little more coffee than you intended, and at the same time buy a couple of tickets to the ball dedicated to the Independence Day. And by the next morning, you are again ready to bypass the voters, because this occupation is not as fruitless as you thought yesterday. Indeed, in your area there are more supporters of your party than in the neighboring one, and Jack Mostovoi seems to be quite sure that the party will master the victory in the elections and in the neighboring area. Then you go to the ball. Dance, maybe only three or four dances, but you will have a wonderful time. The Chairman of the West Side Club will share with you interesting ideas, and at the same time a couple of fresh scandalous stories about the commission on city bridges and senator Rastrat.

In addition to strengthening the morale of agitators and ensuring the exchange of political information, the political club also performs another important function, being at the same time a school for managing one’s country and courses for raising political skills. Nominated candidates speak at political clubs, where they can ask questions and communicate with them in an informal setting, which is completely impossible at public meetings. Neither the candidate nor the official in an elected post, down to the level of the governor, including the governor himself, can afford to refuse to accept an invitation to speak at a political club. If they are obstructed by circumstances, they will apologize and try to come another day.
Their speeches give you the opportunity to get to know the people working in our government. In a country as big as ours, this is an invaluable opportunity that seems completely unfamiliar to most of our citizens. If you use it, then the mysterious and distant processes of governing the country will become as clear and close to you as your family doctor's favorite healing techniques.

The political club also works as a workshop of democracy, because it solves partly the same problems, according to the same rules as our Congress, with one important difference: the political club deals with them at an earlier stage than Congress. Many laws were passed in high halls of the Congress after an ordinary citizen, a tailor, a grocer, or a school teacher, in his small amateur political club, proposed to adopt a law to solve this or that problem.
In fact, political clubs are part of our government, albeit an informal part of it. Ideas proposed in them are sent to party committees, where they are finalized and prepared for general consideration.

How to create a political club

To create a successful political club, just one person is enough. He (or she) usually becomes his secretary, but may be his chairman, treasurer, head of the commission to receive new members, head of the political programs committee, and not even hold any post at all. Because, no matter how his position is called, in fact he is the executive secretary of a political club, applying his will and efforts to the club. In his person, he represents the constantly working main mover of all the activities of a political club. He ensures that notifications and meeting invitations are sent out, collects membership fees to pay room rent and postage, plans presentations for speakers and club events, borrows chairs for meetings, provides food and drinks for meetings, looks for where to stay a conference room, places ads in newspapers, and welcomes newcomers to the club.

In a large political club, not one, but two, three, or even five people can do this. But no political club can work without such an enthusiast. He must simultaneously have the qualities of a Sunday school director, a leader of a scout, and a conductor of an amateur orchestra. Surely, you met such people in Masonic lodges, Rotary clubs, school parental committees, and in committees for helping children. All public organizations are based on such people, and only one such person is needed for a political club.

When to create a political club

Do not create a political club if you yourself are not ready to become the spark plug of its engine. I know, at least, two clubs, conceived by people who are quite suitable for their work in terms of their personal qualities. However, the activities of both of these clubs did not move beyond several meetings, because, being busy in their main job, their creators believed that it was enough for the created club to give an initial impetus, after which its activities would go wrong.
This approach usually does not work.

Do not start creating a political club if you are not ready to stay with it, to groom and cherish it during the whole time of its existence. You can decide to keep it afloat during one election campaign, and then allow it to cease its activities if it cannot exist without your support. This club is very useful. Or you can conceive it as a permanent social organization, and then your concern for it will not stop. Although, in this case, you probably will find one or more successors who are ready to take care of the club, even if you move to another city. Creating and supporting a political club implies a lot more work than membership in it and participation in its political work. However, if you think it is worth founding a political club in your area, and you are ready to spend about as much effort as is spent on creating a Scout organization, then act. There is nothing difficult in this, the main thing is your desire, and knowledge of how this is done (which you can learn from this book).

To do this, you don’t have to be one of those who are called “yours on the board,” who easily connects with people and makes friends. I saw political clubs, led by people who were not intelligent and did not have good manners, but who were diligent and persistent. And yet, the ability to make friends is very useful for guiding the club, and even more useful in the pursuit of politics. Although we again deviated from the topic, because we were going to talk about the formation of the membership of the club members and work with them. But since for that matter, we will discuss the topic touched upon.
Remember the saying of an experienced piglet politician? - “When you start a piglet - make friends with him, and in return he will fatten him for glory”. The point is this. The secret of popular popularity is to make people understand that you are good to them. Find in your interlocutor the quality that you like and tell him about it. In any person there is something that you enjoy. Even if you meet the devil himself, you can at least praise him for his zeal.
I do not advise you to be insincere, but only advise you not to be closed. If you have something nice in a person, tell him about it.

Here you come to the dance, stand next to Mr. Brown. Why don't you tell him: “I didn’t know that your wife was dancing so wonderful! No one would have thought that she already had three children! ”
It will give him pleasure, and will not cause jealousy. Ask him also to show photos of his children, of course, they are with him in his wallet. And if you don’t know what is good to say about the photos of his children, then I can’t help you with anything, think for yourself. But, for example, you can say that one of his children is very mature. Any small sincere compliment is always there. You do not need to overwhelm a person with praises to the ears, do not become exaggeratedly sentimental. Simply, be attentive to the interlocutor, praise him for what you can praise, and keep silent when you want to say some kind of barb.

You can even give women compliments about their new hats. I know that it already smells of hypocrisy and insincerity, especially if you look at these stupid caps of them in terms of the engineering soundness of their form. But after all, you meet women not in the laboratory, but in public, so you can sacrifice engineering soundness.
When you make compliments, you don’t have to say how beautiful their hat is: you pay attention to the fact that she tried to be attractive to her husband, to you, and to those around you. Never mind that her head in this hat looks like a devastated bird's nest. You praise her commendable efforts to look feminine.

So if you see a hat on a woman that you have not seen before, pay attention to her. Tell me you like this hat. If you can’t say it with an honest look, say at least: “I’m watching you have another new hat!” In an enthusiastic tone. The word “next” implies that in front of you is a stylish woman who changes hats every week, and an enthusiastic tone - that for friends the change of her hats is always a pleasant event.
If she says, "Mercy, this hat is already two years old!", You need to answer, "But she looks absolutely like new, and reminded me of the one that I saw last week in a photo in Life magazine." Such an answer will help you out. After all, in the end, all the pretentiousness of the forms of women's hats is limited to three spatial dimensions.
If she insists that last week you saw her in this hat, feel free to reply that you didn’t pay attention to the hat, because you admired her beauty, at the same time coming out of an awkward position and making her a compliment.
(If you are sure that this is appropriate, you can say that you admired her beautiful figure or legs. Just do not interfere with your love affairs with political work. Many politicians have tried to do this, and this most often ended with their resignation. Similar to a troubadour who praises beauty the ladies of your heart, who love her exclusively with platonic love).
When a man talks to a man, it is not necessary to compliment the stylishness of the clothes of your interlocutor, but if the clothes deserve it, then go ahead, men also like such compliments. However, the easiest way to communicate with a man is to ask him about work, and then just listen carefully to everything he says. From such a conversation, you will surely learn something new, and he will remember you as the smartest person you have to deal with.
I will not risk giving women advice on how to flatter a man. If the woman herself does not know how to do it, then it is no longer a woman.

There are many opportunities for praise participating in the activities of the political club. Feel free to say something like “Excellent offer! Who is ready to put it in the form of an official document? ”Or“ You performed very well yesterday, Charlie, showed them who is who! ”And“ This wonderful cupcake was brought by Mrs. McIntosh, she baked it herself! ”
And, probably, the most important thing for people to love you, apart from elementary politeness in communicating with them, is to remember their names. There are many names in the world, and they all consist of different letters, but for the owner of the name, it is only one, the best in the world.
I heard many people say that they could never become politicians because they don't remember their names very well. But I know for sure that you can remember them, because you were able to memorize at least 50,000 English words, each of which consists of different letters. You memorized hundreds of mathematical rules and theorems to pass the exam in the eighth grade. You memorized many street names and landmarks on them. So really you can not keep in your memory the name and face of the person you represented? Of course you can!

This is how I do it, with my memory as a sieve full of holes, so bad that I don’t even remember the date of my marriage. When you are presented with a person, look into his eyes, repeat his name and ask - "Did I say your name correctly, Mr. Lowell?" He will either confirm or correct you. Now repeat the name again, and make sure that this time remember it correctly. If necessary, you can specify how it is spelled. (All this time, looking man in the face, and listening to what he says).
If you are familiar with the same surname, you can say “I have an acquaintance of the Lowell family, from Grinell in Iowa. Maybe your relatives? " He can answer something like “Maybe. We, Lowell, live a lot there, in the middle west, we are a big tribe. ” As a result, you pronounced his name several times, and heard him pronounce it. At this time, clicking the switches a little busy worker in your brain, without any effort on your part, typed the name you heard and said into a new cell of your memory. The next time you see your interlocutor, and recalling the sounds of your voice saying “Lowell”, immediately recall this last name. At the same time, another section of your brain will remember how to spell this last name. Thus, I memorize the pronunciation and spelling even of Turkish, Japanese or Polish surnames, along with the persons of their owners, despite the fact that I definitely have no talent for languages.
After you memorize a new last name for you, in the next few minutes of the conversation try to find an opportunity to insert some neutral remark into the conversation, like “Was it difficult to find a parking place, Mr. Lowell?” This will finally fix his last name in your memory.

And he had already forgotten what your name was, and this made him a little embarrassed. He will lead his acquaintance, who introduced you to each other, and whisper in his ear: “What is the name of that guy with whom you just introduced me? There, with a red nose? "
And a friend will answer him: “That one? So it's Jack Vdvonvilschik. He runs everything here. Good fellow. And it will be true, and Mr. Lowell will remember your face and name. This is what you need!

All this took quite a bit of time, without requiring any effort on your part, and represents a sure way to gain solid political weight. No one will be offended if, having met him again, you will be mistaken in the pronunciation or spelling of his last name - if he sees that you have tried with all your might to remember his name correctly. A little effort spent on memorizing will pay you back a hundredfold, because you have shown a person that you value his individuality, and do not perceive him with another faceless face in a crowd of voters. But while continuing the acquaintance, it is necessary, nevertheless, to remember the correct pronunciation and spelling of his surname, if you do not want to alienate him. Knowing the spelling of a surname is important because you may need to send an invitation to the club’s meetings and mailing political mailings. And a person by the name of “MacGregor” will be annoyed if the message “McGregor” is written on the invitation addressed to him.

If you act as described above, everyone will begin to love you, even if you are untidy, and you have a bad breath. You will forgive your weaknesses.

So I repeat: the main thing is to be friendly to people and to look for an opportunity to let them know that they have something you like, that you admire them, and appreciate their individuality.

And at the end of the discussion of this topic, I will tell you one parable.
One day, on a cold, cloudy morning, a young man was waiting for the opening of the city gates in order to get into a large walled city. The young man was from the village, he came here to seek happiness and wealth, but now he was seized with fear, excitement, and homesickness. And he asked the guard at the gate:
“What are the people living here?”
The guard thought, and in turn asked him:
“And what are the people in your village?” The young man’s eyes began to shine, and he answered excitedly
“There the best, most wonderful, kindest people in the world surrounded me.”
“Then come in, my son,” said the guard, “here you will meet just such people.”
This is an old parable, I forgot who told it to me for the first time, but in it is the key to success in politics. Perhaps this parable had a sequel about which it was not finished: after three years, under the strict guidance of a wise guard, the young man became the mayor of that city.

a continuation

Part 1, where there are links to all other parts