But he liked the book.
Hard to believe Heinlein ever flirted with Democratic politics. Guess it proves we're all stupid when we're young. (I have long believed that humans, as a species, are stupid.)
Farnham's Freehold, Time Enough for Love, Job, Number of the Beast, the "juveniles" Glory Road, Rolling Stones, Podkayne of Mars, Door Into Summer, the short stories like There Was a Crooked Man...
I think I've got everything he ever published (wore out 2 paperback copies of Time Enough and had a hardcover copy stolen).
Heinlein wrote about real people, people who were willing to stand on their own two feet, people who had character (even if it was laced with "rational self-interest").
Of course, he was also pretty good at goring sacred cows, whether it was religion, politics or societal norms. His art, here, was that he didn't beat you over the head with it. Instead, he made you think and examine, within the context of the story.
At the same time, he claimed he didn't write what he did for ideological reasons but, rather, simply to sell and make money. Perhaps.
There were, and are, other good writers out there, depending on your particular tastes (Drake for military fiction, Dickson, early Norton, Janifer for his humor, both the Robinsons {but particularly Spider}...and mustn't forget Moorcock, given my screen name).
There was only one Robert Anson Heinlein.
</maudlin sappiness>
Well, the Democrats then had a long way to sink to become the Democrats they are now. But I recall another bright young West Coast emerging Democrat from the same period, a Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan.
Like he said in words that could have as easily said by RAH: he didn't leave the Democratic Party; they left him....
-archy-/-