Translation of excerpts from Robert Heinlein’s book, Take Your Government Back - part 14

How to vote in the face of lack of time to study candidates

Sometimes it may happen that the state of health, or long trips, will not leave you time and energy to get acquainted with the candidates and their programs. In this case, you do not know for whom you need to vote, all candidates are unfamiliar to you. But those whom you have tamed with your campaign tips, still eager for you to get advice for whom to vote.

There is an easy and reliable way to make a selection of candidates in the face of time pressure. Use it, just warn those who are consulting with you that you are not a bit "in the subject" now, and you may be mistaken in your recommendations. You will be forgiven for mistakes if you warn them that they are possible, but they will not forgive dishonesty and feigned confidence. To some of your friends, you can explain the method of choice that you used, the rest - just give the finished result.

So, here is what you need to do: take the socio-political newspaper that you most despise. (After all, you probably will find her fresh release, don't you want to know the plans of the opposition?) Look at it, paying attention to who they are advised to vote for, and boldly vote against these candidates.
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Sometimes, some candidates and political programs are so popular that they are supported by both rival parties, and even the newspaper you despised from which you drew information advises them to vote for them, but later it may turn out that you voted against the wrong person . But this is not so important: such candidates and programs still win by an overwhelming majority, so your mistake did not affect the election results.

Some of these errors can be avoided, fluently, “diagonally” by viewing information about candidates. To some extent, this is possible and will save you from the disappointment that you will experience when you realize that you voted for the wrong candidate, but only that. As I said, in a situation like the one described above, in the event of an error, you will not mess anything up.

You will certainly ask me why, instead of the yellow opposition rag you despise, you cannot take the newspaper whose opinion you most respect and vote for the candidates recommended by it. Perhaps my opinion is biased, but I have not yet seen a single newspaper, whose opinion would be completely independent, and would have as its goal only to benefit society. Even in the best of the existing newspapers, all the time I feel biased, and in the lists of recommended candidates published by them, I sometimes come across completely inappropriate candidates deftly stuck in the thick of worthy candidates.

So I think, when you have too little time to understand thoroughly, it is safer to go “on the contrary” - to find out who is supported by people who, in your opinion, are swindlers, and vote strictly the opposite.

How to distribute posts in the government of the party that came to power

The distribution of posts in the government of the ruling party is one of the most difficult problems of politics, and it will not escape you. No matter how carefully you try to protect yourself from the temptation to encourage your associates with government posts, the question of the distribution of posts will still overtake you, and literally make you do them. As long as there are posts in the structure of the public service that are appointed and not chosen, the problem of their distribution will always be with us.

Assigned posts a huge amount, and the end-edge is not visible. Even if a new era comes in which the appointment of members of the winning party to top government posts will be completely banned, there will remain many posts responsible for carrying out the government course, the appointment of which will continue to depend on the favor of politicians. In addition, the issue of loyalty to the ruling party of officials of this level is of both ideological and practical importance. I heard from enthusiastic idealists a lot of idle chatter about this, that, say, the party affiliation of officials is unimportant, the main thing is that they work well. All these well-wishers are like the notorious mice, which adopt the law that, for their safety, a bell is hung on the cat's neck, but not explaining who and how should do it. Of course, only active and loyal members of the ruling party who understand the party program that they are implementing, and all other fabrications on this subject - deception and fraud, should work in the executive branch of the government! Would you hire a surgeon to preach scientific Christianity in the Church, which denies all diseases, and at the same time doctors? Or a rabbi to conduct Catholic service?

In some circumstances, a mature and wise representative of a rival party can be appointed head of state or country, tempted in the most difficult craft of developing a government policy strategy for developing a territory subject to it. As a rule, statesmen of this level from both of our main parties display high patriotism, fulfilling the tasks entrusted to them, while not hindering the implementation of the political program of the ruling party. So when the question of such an appointment arises, do not overdo it, defending your party. And without you, someone from the district committee of your party will certainly come up with a proposal to condemn such a coalition nomination. Do not interfere with the work of your governor or president, supporting this narrow-minded opinion.

But here is a much more common case when party commitment is to be taken into account. Imagine that your party has just won the election, and it needs to fill many positions on which government policy depends. Since you are an active party leader, your appointment to posts depends to a large extent on your approval of candidates. In this situation, you are not only entitled, you simply must, along with other qualities of the applicants, take into account their political affiliation. Your governor (or mayor, or president) will work better with people loyal, having the same political views as he. And the best way to confirm your political views is to support your party in the election campaign. Although such support in itself may mean nothing, but an unwillingness to take part in it can mean one of two things: either the applicant for the post does not believe in the depths of his soul in the party program, which he will enforce if he is appointed to the post ; either the claimant is too lazy and selfish to serve the community. And we do not need such an official!

I touched on the issue of the party affiliation of candidates for posts in the government in detail because there is too much irresponsible chatter about this. It seems that an important part of the Great American Credo is the conviction that after a successful election, truly state-minded politicians forget about the rivalry of parties and appoint “the best people” to high positions, regardless of the degree of their participation in the election campaign. This, of course, sounds beautiful, but does not work in reality. The best candidates for posts in the government should be sought not among the indifferent observers of the election campaign, and not in the rival team, but among those who personally fought for the ideals in which they believe.

However, if the posts of government officials involved in the implementation of the government course should be occupied by active party activists, then I see no reason why party convictions need to be taken into account when filling out such executive positions as typists, inspectors, and truck drivers. Despite the fact that applicants for the majority of such posts are selected by competition, a considerable number of these posts are appointed, and you will be asked to help arrange their people there.

Appointment of members of the winning party to government posts is not an easy task, and the perfect way to do this is unknown to me. To achieve the best result in any situation, I would advise to follow the following practical rules:
1. Take responsibility. If you, through your contacts or personal power, will have the opportunity to decide, or contribute to deciding who will occupy all these myriads of posts that do not affect the conduct of government policy, do not shift responsibility to someone, make decisions yourself, and be responsible for their mistakes. Unwilling to be responsible for the distribution of posts - unprincipled pants, like many lovers of meat and fur clothing, not wanting to know anything about slaughtered cows in slaughterhouses, and about the killing of animals whose fur went to their fur coats. Shifting the task of distributing posts to each other, in the end, will end up with someone who will distribute these posts to those people who are not satisfied with you at all and who will act against the public interest.
2. Do not proceed from the political merit of applicants when they are appointed to posts. Proceed from their qualifications, despite their merits. Make it clear to everyone that you think that service positions should be filled with methods similar to competitive selection, and that in this case you are acting in the interests of the whole society, and not separately of your party. (I have to admit that many successful politicians are guided by a completely opposite rule. Nevertheless, I believe that by acting according to my advice, in the long run you will achieve better results. Decide which approach is closer to you. But I am sure that my approach is not only more principled, it is more practical, any other way of post distribution will bring you a lot of trouble and lost votes).
3. Be extremely honest with the applicant: if you do not intend to help him with his appointment to the post, tell him directly, and accept his reaction with dignity. This is how all successful politicians are advised to do, however, it is quite difficult to strictly follow this rule. It is much easier to promise the applicant that you "will do everything in your power to help him," and then do nothing. I did it myself when I was just starting my political career, and then I did not have the courage to directly refuse the applicant. Now I have learned to say no, but I still get upset when I have to refuse.
4. In the treatment of the applicant be simple, not arrogant. If the situation allows, help him with the appointment to the post, at least for good reasons. In the end, the applicant may indeed have nothing to buy for himself (or he thinks so). Finding a job is not an easy task, and he (or she) would not have applied for a job if they didn’t need the small salary that they pay in such positions. Even if you have to refuse, do it humanly, without humiliating the candidate’s self-esteem, it’s just as important for him to get his daily bread. Set him down, offer a cigarette, a cup of coffee, and listen. Perhaps if you cannot give him the post for which he is applying, during the conversation with him you will find him another job suitable for his qualifications.

There is nothing inappropriate for a statesman to help a person find a job. It is as good as healing the lepers and returning the ability to walk to cripples, as medieval kings did. The majority of your visitors on this issue will not be the best, first-class specialists in their field, but don't let that upset you: the majority of all the work in the world is done by professionals of average qualification. At the same time, you will not deceive taxpayers, recommending that you appoint a qualified, though not perfectly perfect candidate for the position. First-class specialists would hardly have gone to these small posts in the public service: in private companies, they will earn much more.

Just do not try to push your candidates for the positions they are taking in the competition! Tell the applicant for such a post that the desired position is out of politics, and that he goes to the commission for public service, where he will be given not one, but many opportunities to get a job. The commission for public service works no worse than any other government body.

There is one obvious exception to the rule above: many federal agencies in certain seasons without exams recruit temporary workers who perform work during peak periods of loading. For example, the railway courier service and mail, need additional workers on the eve of Christmas, the tax service has its peak season. And then it is difficult to quickly recruit staff on the lists of personnel reserve for such non-highly skilled and experienced positions like clerks, typists, workers, drivers, and so on.

Do not use your political influence in order to arrange for the positions of people applying to you. Know better when vacancies open, and advise the person whose request for appointment you have not fulfilled, to take advantage of open vacancies. Most people simply do not know about these opportunities, and in general are not very interested in the world around. So if you know several organizations that recruit temporary employees, you can constantly send them to you who will be grateful to you for helping them.

You have to be engaged in such activities, if you want to compete on a par with professional politicians, whose strength is based on the fact that they help the people applying to them. You can do the same, but, unlike political merchants, do not expect a mandatory reward in return. Do not demand in return and loyalty to your political organization: the good you have done will return to you without it. (Oddly enough, political professionals know this. They help not only the "trustworthy", but also all those who turn to them, hoping that when the time comes, they will also voluntarily respond to the service, bearing in mind the service rendered , without any pressure from the side, if they do not, then you can push.

Let's talk now about military academies. Admission to them should take place on a competitive basis, but in reality this does not happen. You will often be approached by parents of young talents, asking them to arrange their children to study at the Military Academy, the Academy of Naval Forces, and the Coast Guard Academy. You have the opportunity to encourage such laudable desire, without using your political influence, and at the same time, by improving your reputation! Firstly, often before addressing you, visitors do not even make inquiries about how to enroll themselves in the desired educational institution, because their child said he wants to go there right now! In the meantime, by submitting a request to the Ministry of Defense, anyone can get detailed information about the conditions for admission to these academies. All this can also be obtained in any state library and in military enlistment offices. If your visitors do not have this information, and you provide it to them, they will love you for their responsiveness. From the same sources, you can find out the requirements for applicants and get typical tasks of entrance examinations in military academies. At the same time, you can stock up on the list of vacancies in the military sector and contacts of military employers. When you have all this at hand, in the eyes of young applicants and their parents you will become an omniscient sage. In addition to information, you can give them valuable advice. All three mentioned military academies, in essence, train engineers, therefore, those who enter there must thoroughly know mathematics and physics, as well as any foreign language. Inform about this aspiring there. In addition, all three academies have strict requirements for the health and physical condition of applicants, and the applicant must immediately clarify to himself whether he meets these requirements and whether he can do something to fit them. It is sad when a guy spends several years preparing for admission, but at the last moment it turns out that he will not be accepted to the academy as a result of a physical examination.

But do not use your political influence in relation to entering the military academies. In some situation, this may be justified, but, all the same, it will harm the public interest. Limit yourself to useful tips and information.

I was so deep into the problem of the patronage of those entering the military academies, because, first, you will surely come up with such requests every year, and secondly, because I do not advise you to use your political influence to satisfy such requests. However, by refusing visitors in their requests to use your political influence to ensure admission to the academy, you can at least give them other feasible help. Requests for protection are different from requests for political services by the fact that they have parental feelings involved. It is much easier to deny the applicant a request to appoint him to a post in the government than to refuse to help his son enter the academy.

Part 1, where there are links to all other parts