On Adult Responsibility for the Future

By Branko Terzic

“Politics is the only game for adults. All other games are for children” 

This quote was on a a brass plaque on the desk of Charles O. Davis Jr., one of the people who influenced me in my early years in politics in Wisconsin. Charlie Davis was the co-founder of McDonald Davis & Associates one of Milwaukee largest advertising and public relations agencies in the 1970s.  He frequently served as executive director of Republican candidate campaigns in Wisconsin.

In 1992 I found the original source of that quote in a later issue of an unpublished 1946 book “How to be a Politician” by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein. The book issued in 1992 was titled   Take Back Your Government: A Practical Handbook for the Private Citizen Who Wants Democracy to Work (Baen Books)

Heinlein’s full quote about the “game” of politics was a little more elegant:

“From the standpoint of sheer recreation, you will have discovered the greatest sport in the world. Horse racing, gambling, football, the fights, all of these things are childish and trite compared with this greatest sport. Politics is a game where you always play for keeps where the game is continuous, always fresh and full of surprises…The stakes are the highest conceivable, the lives and the futures of every living creature on this planet. How well you play it can make the difference between freedom or a firing squad, civilization or atomic conflagration.” 

Robert Heinlein wrote this in 1946 as the world was entering the “Atomic Age” and the period of what would later be called The Cold War with two superpowers both heavily armed with nuclear weapons aimed at each other. Yes, politics is important if what’s at stake is the survival of civilization. Thus, Heinlein urged people to get involved in politics at the grass roots either as a candidate or an active campaigner for candidates.

But do not be deceived by the word “game”. Its more than that. Heinlein admonished:

‘Over and above the joy of playing for high stakes is the greatest and most adult joy of all, the continuous and sustaining knowledge that you have broken with childish ways and come at last into your full heritage as a free citizen, integrated into the land of your birth or your choice and carrying your share of adult responsibility for the future thereof!” 

Next Tuesday, November 5, 2024, is Election Day. Make sure to Vote that’s also part of your adult responsibility for the future!

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