"Robert Anton Wilson: Searching For Cosmic Intelligence" - interview by Jeffrey Elliot (1980)
Context: My early work is politically anarchist fiction, in that I was an anarchist for a long period of time. I'm not an anarchist any longer, because I've concluded that anarchism is an impractical ideal. Nowadays, I regard myself as a libertarian. I suppose an anarchist would say, paraphrasing what Marx said about agnostics being "frightened atheists," that libertarians are simply frightened anarchists. Having just stated the case for the opposition, I will go along and agree with them: yes, I am frightened. I'm a libertarian because I don't trust the people as much as anarchists do. I want to see government limited as much as possible; I would like to see it reduced back to where it was in Jefferson's time, or even smaller. But I would not like to see it abolished. I think the average American, if left totally free, would act exactly like Idi Amin. I don't trust the people any more than I trust the government.
“Like sensible people throughout history, the average Phoenician wanted as little to do with his government as possible.”
Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks (p. 313)
Time Patrol
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Poul Anderson 140
American science fiction and fantasy writer 1926–2001Related quotes
“Throughout history, people have never before expected to be as comfortable as people do today.”
Block Island Times, Meet Jens Risom by Jane Vercelli, Spring 2010, House and Garden Edition, New Shoreham, Rhode Island USA.
“Governments throughout history have been run by tyrants.”
The Tyrant Next Time (November 7, 2019)
"Industrial Organization and Rent Seeking in Dictatorships"
“What do people like to call stupid the most? Something sensible that they can’t understand.”
Was nennen die Menschen am liebsten dumm? Das Gescheite, das sie nicht verstehen.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 37.
2009, A New Beginning (June 2009)
2013, Cape Town University Address (June 2013)
Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from A Separate Reality (Chapter 6)
As cited in Longden, T. (2009, March 25). Famous Iowans - Paul Conrad http://data.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/famous-iowans/paul-conrad. The Des Moines Register.