Book review of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" written before.
In terms of the complexity of political life, there is no other work in popular literature that describes it in more detail and contradiction than "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". The heroes depicted in this novel have their own right and wrong, but what I am more concerned about is: what role did the billions of people in the galaxy, who serve as the background, play in history?
In the era envisioned by the work, civic spirit has declined. The question here is: what is civic spirit? How is it generated? And how can it decline?
As common knowledge, I don't need to analyze it in too much detail here. In short, civic spirit is the awareness of the rights and responsibilities of citizens to participate in political life, as well as the corresponding recognition of legitimate procedures. Civic spirit originated from the democratic politics of the ancient Greek city-state, combined with the protection of private rights in Roman law, the individual equality consciousness of Stoicism and Christianity, the struggle of cities and nobles to maintain autonomy, the awakening of individual spirit during the Enlightenment movement, and the victories in the struggles against imperial power and ecclesiastical power, forming a citizen-based nation. The paths formed by France, England, and the United States are different, and cannot be detailed here.
Civic spirit is a strange compound. On the one hand, it requires citizens to have a sense of political responsibility and equal rights, and to maintain an active spirit of participating in political life. On the other hand, it requires citizens to follow appropriate procedures and respect the authority of the government they have chosen. This balance is difficult to maintain. Even in countries where a tradition of civic spirit has already formed, sometimes there is a lack of interest in politics, allowing the government to do as it pleases. Sometimes there is a loss of trust in legitimate political procedures, and sometimes the legitimate political channels fail. In times of crisis such as war, the people are easily at risk of permanently losing their rights. Various democratic crises have occurred multiple times in history, and will inevitably occur again in the future. There is no optimistic expectation of inevitability in the future.
There are two famous descriptions of the loss of civic spirit. One is described in works like "Brave New World" and "Amusing Ourselves to Death", where the masses remain in shallow sensory pleasure and lose interest in political life. The other is described in "1984", where in totalitarian politics, the Leviathan controls everything and the people lose the ability to act and think. Both of these correspond to reality to a certain extent. Long periods of peace will face a crisis of democracy, and wars and turmoil will also face a crisis of democracy. Democracy is not a one-time permanent system, but requires the efforts of each generation. The corrupt democratic system depicted in "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" may become a reality, such as in the case of the United Kingdom where the two parties have become a parliamentary performance, and the United States has elected someone like Trump who undermines the system.
Once democracy declines, rebuilding it is not something that can be done by a few generations. It is likely to be a long night ahead. Because the cultivation of civic spirit requires a suitable environment. When civic spirit declines, people forget the dignity of citizens, and perhaps they feel more comfortable being slaves because they have shed their responsibilities. In such a dilemma, the few awakened individuals can only be helpless.
Politics is a practical way of life, not an idealized spirit. Therefore, although Yang Wenli is willing to sacrifice his life for the ideal of democratic spirit, he has also sacrificed countless lives in the process. But the victory of democracy over authoritarianism is not a simple fairy tale of justice triumphing over evil. Therefore, his contradiction between rigid adherence to democratic procedures and extreme freedom of spirit, his praise for Reinhard's actions but also saying "nothing destroys democratic rule more than enlightened monarchic rule," all indicate that he does not care about victory in this life, but only seeks to maintain a spark of democracy, a symbolic spirit. This creates a paradox, where a system that requires equality for all needs an idol to survive in spirit.
Although the author describes a large number of famous and distinctive heroic characters, their number is far less than the silent billions of people who serve as the background. Why does this strange contradiction exist? Because it is the minority who drives history. Billions of people form the curtain of darkness, and in the galaxy depicted in the background of the novel, it is extremely difficult to awaken the civic spirit of each individual, and even the darkest night cannot be compared to blindness. It would be best if Reinhard and his successors could realize that this system is not sustainable and gradually change it. If this is not possible, as awakened individuals and inheritors of Yang Wenli, they should defend the value of individual life, independence, bravery, justice, tolerance, compassion... Unfortunately, as dissidents of the old system, some people are filled with hatred for the old system, but do not know how to establish a new system; some people fall into refined selfishness and skepticism, or believe that there is some spontaneous order that will inevitably save them. The road ahead is long, with no light in sight. Perhaps, like Asimov's Foundation, it will take thousands of years. In this long night, it requires generations of Yulians to keep the flame alive. (The population of the galaxy is more than trillions, not calculated when writing.)