d action.

"I'm older than you are, George, and I've lived with a kind of fear all
my life--just as you and everyone else in the Belt has. A single mistake
can kill out here, and the fear that it will be some fool who makes a
mistake that will kill hundreds is always with us. We've learned to live
with that kind of fear; we've learned to take steps to prevent any idiot
from throwing the wrong switch that would shut down a power plant or
open an air lock at the wrong time.

"But the fear on Earth is different. It's the fear that everyone else is
out to get you, the fear that someone will stick a figurative knife in
your back and reduce you to the basic subsistence level. And that fear
is solidly based, believe me. The only way to climb up from basic
subsistence is to climb over everyone else, to knock aside those in your
way, to get rid of whoever is occupying the position you want. And once
you get there, the only way you can hold your position is to make sure
that nobody below you gets too big for his britches. The rule is: Pull
down those above you, hold down those below you.

"I've seen it, George. The big cities are packed with people whose sole
ambition in life is to badger their local welfare worker out of another
check--they need new clothes, they need a new bed, they need a new
table, they need more food for the new baby, they need this, they need
that. All they ever do is _need_! But, of course, they're far to
aristocratic to _work_.

"Those who do have ambition have to become politicians--in the worst
sense of the word. They have to gain some measure of control over the
dispersal of largesse to the mob; they have to get themselves into a
position where they can give away other people's money, so that they can
get their cut, too.

"And even then, the man who gets to be a big shot doesn't dare show it.
Take a look at Tarnhorst. He's probably one of the best of a bad lot. He
has his fingers in a lot of business pies which make him money, and he's
in a high enough position in the government to enable him to keep some
of his money. But his clothing is only a little bit better than the
average, just as the man who is on basic subsistence wears clothes that
are only a little bit worse than the average. That diamond ring of his
is a real diamond, but you can buy imitations that can't be told from
the real thing except by an expert, so his diamond doesn't offend anyone
by being ostentatious. And it's unfaceted, to