Robert Heinlein's classic novel of rebellion and the birth of a nation on the Moon is a classic for good reason. Humorous, engaging, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and a masterpiece of world-building, one is completely absorbed into this fascinating setting and its unique language, style, and revolution. Narrated through the perspective of one of the leaders of the revolution that led to the Moon's independence, Manuel, looking back on his life in the distant future, the reader sees how an ordinary (for the Moon) man can become part of history. Indeed, his friend, Mike, the supercomputer whose role in the Moon's secession from Earth's authority was indispensable, often refers to Manuel simply as "Man." In addition to Manuel, whose grit, everyday dedication, and deep roots in the penal colony make him an effective part of the revolutionary leadership, a beautiful woman named Wyoh, an elderly "Prof" with a past in fomenting revolution on Earth, and a wealthy Terran ally round out the rest of the team.
What truly made the revolution possible was the help of Mike, the aforementioned supercomputer with sentience. Serving as a friend to Mike and then part of the leadership of the Free Luna movement, Mike is their superweapon. As an advanced computer, he can calculate trajectories for catapulting rock on Earth, use his connections to spy on communications of the Lunar Authority, and check probabilities for various scenarios throughout the revolution. Prof Bernardo, an anarchist with a deep historical and practical experience, represents the basic ideology of the revolution and tries to steer it toward a limited government. Wyoh, the initial leader of the first organization to free Luna, is also important but is somewhat sidelined later on. Man, or Manuel, plays a vital role throughout since he influenced how the Free Luna movement began with cells, and then, when Mike was not around, led the movement for independence to its final showdown with Terra. Ultimately, the Moon had no chance against Earth, but needed to engage in a combination of political theater, threats, and the image of being a bigger threat than it actually was to force the authorities on Terra to concede independence.
Through the lens of science fiction, Heinlein's own political perspective and view of what government can and should be seems clear. Although not a left-wing anarchist by any means, one can immediately detect a libertarian bias. The residents of the Moon, overwhelmingly descendants of convicts exiled by Terra and placed under the ineffective Lunar Authority which only buys grain at a fixed price, have developed a unique society to adapt to the harsh conditions of the Moon. Since men were outnumbered by women, co-marriages and distinct marriage customs evolved, perhaps best exemplified in Manuel's family with co-husbands and co-wives. Since the settlers of the Moon hailed from various races and ethnic groups on Earth, racial miscegenation is common. Russian words are also a part of everyday English on the Moon. The people of Luna have also learned to function largely without government. Through contracts between individuals, learning to survive in a harsh environment to find resources or start farms, and, when possible, avoiding the Lunar Authority and its ineffective Warden, the people of the Moon are a "nation." Furthermore, like the people of the United States in its Revolutionary War, the residents of the Moon are unfairly "taxed" by the Lunar Authority's control of the Moon's potentially lucrative trade with Terra in a free market.
Clearly, Heinlein's novel espouses a libertarian perspective in which government intervention is minimal. While the Free Luna movement later establishes a Republic (through elections controlled by Mike and then the established Congress steered in the "right" direction by Prof to avoid it influencing the conflict with Terra), and symbolically draws on the Fourth of July, Prof, Manuel, and Wyoh do not want a strong, central authority after independence. Ineffectual yammerheads in this early Congress who do nothing but criticize and do not serve in any military capacity to defend Luna when Terran forces strike are severely criticized by Manuel, too, who threatens to resign when confronted by one in a committee. It seems that, to Heinlein (and Manuel), military service was essential for having a true say in the Revolution. The ultimate sacrifice, one might say, which many Luna men, women and even children do to defeat Terran troops sent to quell the revolt. Moreover, the ends justifies the means since our protagonists had to manipulate both sides with controlled media, deception, bluffing, fake elections, and grand-scale theft for funding. Yet, this type of limited government/libertarian ethos can only work in a setting in which a century of adaptation to difficult living conditions without strong central authority for most of the period have instilled certain values, cooperative and extended kinship networks, and generations of ethnic/racial miscegenation. On overcrowded Terra, such an arrangement is impossible. Even in the United States, whose independence movement was an inspiration for Free Luna, race still serves as an obstacle to social unity while the overcrowded population suffers from exploitative and ineffective governments headed by the Federated Nations. In other words, libertarianism can work, but one must have both the cultural and economic bases for it established. This includes the understanding that there is no such thing as a free lunch, meaning the people of the Moon will not view government as a provider, unlike governments on Terra (like in overcrowded India, which relies heavily on grain imported from the Moon).
Sadly, the character of Mike is the most interesting and depressing of the novel. The only sentient computer, and more human-like throughout the novel as "he" gains friends, shares jokes, and even takes on a human persona as "Adam Selene" to help lead the revolution, Mike unfortunately disappears by the novel's conclusion. Perhaps this was necessary so the new nation of the Moon could truly act autonomously and take its destiny in its own hands. Nonetheless, it felt like a cop out and never addressed the possibility of other computers gaining sentience and perhaps having a voice in government. Furthermore, Mike had arguably become even more human throughout the novel, which would have been interesting if his "true" identity had been revealed after independence. Did Mike view the whole enterprise as "fun" and have chose to disengage from government? Would future advances in technology, perhaps with Mike along to nudge things, have led to more sentient computers capable of accelerating research for colonization of other planets and satellites?
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