Paris and Alexander Galaxus

So what does Paris have to do with Alexander Galaxus?
For those of you who keep up with my books you'll notice that I follow the examples of the founders of this craft, Heinlein, Van Vogt and Asimov; i.e. I weave real life into my science fiction in order to make it more real. Some have  complained that they don't want any politics in their 'escape' oriented pastime  and I sympathize as well as empathize with them. However, I would remind them  that my heroes, my protagonists, always need an antagonist and that antagonist  always, always needs a believable reason to behave the way he or she behaves.
If they don't then the story is nothing more than a comic book. Yes I rail about socialism, communism, authoritarianism, etc.--true, guilty as charged. Why not?
My main characters are all rugged individualists. Alexander doesn't wait for some federal program to whisk the Methuselans away in the depths of their  bloated bureaucracy; no, he confronts them and takes care of the problem.  That's what heroes and heroines do.
My main characters are based off of people I admire. You've heard them quoted and lauded, even criticized, Lincoln, Churchill, Washington, Patton, Rommel--and yes--Alexander the Great. These were people who didn't wait for someone to do something for them but instead did
something for themselves. Yes, I admire that.
Besides, no one ever read a book about the hero who signed up for food stamps when he didn't
need them. We all need a hand up sometimes--Alexander's bacon has been saved more than once--but eventually we all need to stand up on our own two feet.
I'm in Paris today. I was in New York last week. The streets in Paris are equally as dirty as New York but in Paris there's an army of government laborers in fluorescent jumpsuits paid for
by the national 75% tax rate. Yet the streets aren't any cleaner. What's worse in my mind is the Parisians don't seem to take any pride in cleaning up their city. It's almost as if they expect the government to do it; after all, they're paying enough in taxes aren't they? The laborers don't seem to get that. Why should they? If it's as hard to fire a federal worker in France as it is in the
US (take the IRS for example) then they don't have to worry about it.
So why do you think Alexander ends up dealing with these very issues that sap the
strength out of our society?  Hint. Read Heinlein. Read Van Vogt. Read Asimov. You'll see politics is the center of conflict in all of the giants of the craft. It has to be. It's the Human condition. Really, all the adventure aside, isn't that what these novels are about anyway?

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