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"The Elon" is the Führer on Mars in an old timey Nazi book? Man, reality sure is strange sometimes.

defrost 3y ago
The text on archive.org has both Elan and Elon ... there may be an OCR issue here: The Martian government was directed by ten men, the leader of whom was elected by universal suffrage for five years and entitled “Elan.” Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered by the Elon and his cabinet. The Upper House was called the Council of the Elders and was limited to a membership of 60 persons, each being appointed for life by the Elon as vacancies occurred by death. In principle, the method was not unlike that by which the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church is appointed. Usually the Elon chose historians, churchmen, former cabinet members or successful economic leaders who could offer lifetimes of valuable experience. https://archive.org/stream/ProjectMars/MarsProject_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/ProjectMars/MarsProject_djvu.txt ADDENDUM: It's Elon !! The first appearance as "Elan" was an OCR glitch:- https://archive.org/details/ProjectMars/page/n179/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/ProjectMars/page/n179/mode/2up
- malermeister 3y ago
  Yeah I was curious and looked it up too. It's the Elon, but it seems like he's democratically elected?
  - defrost 3y ago
    Yes, elected for a limited five year term (ideally I'd hope with oversight and a mechanism to remove) coupled with an upper house of sorts with lifetime appointments. Lifetime appointments are a bad idea, for lords, judges, or politicians.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  It's an old Hebrew name that means tree, so you can kind of see how it could be used as a title for an (elected in this case) leader: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_in_mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_in_mythology I don't know if this is what von Braun was thinking, maybe he just made it up, but I think it's not completely out of left field.

The text on archive.org has both Elan and Elon ... there may be an OCR issue here: The Martian government was directed by ten men, the leader of whom was elected by universal suffrage for five years and entitled “Elan.” Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered by the Elon and his cabinet. The Upper House was called the Council of the Elders and was limited to a membership of 60 persons, each being appointed for life by the Elon as vacancies occurred by death. In principle, the method was not unlike that by which the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church is appointed. Usually the Elon chose historians, churchmen, former cabinet members or successful economic leaders who could offer lifetimes of valuable experience. https://archive.org/stream/ProjectMars/MarsProject_djvu.txt https://archive.org/stream/ProjectMars/MarsProject_djvu.txt ADDENDUM: It's Elon !! The first appearance as "Elan" was an OCR glitch:- https://archive.org/details/ProjectMars/page/n179/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/ProjectMars/page/n179/mode/2up

malermeister 3y ago
Yeah I was curious and looked it up too. It's the Elon, but it seems like he's democratically elected?
- defrost 3y ago
  Yes, elected for a limited five year term (ideally I'd hope with oversight and a mechanism to remove) coupled with an upper house of sorts with lifetime appointments. Lifetime appointments are a bad idea, for lords, judges, or politicians.
lupusreal 3y ago
It's an old Hebrew name that means tree, so you can kind of see how it could be used as a title for an (elected in this case) leader: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_in_mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_in_mythology I don't know if this is what von Braun was thinking, maybe he just made it up, but I think it's not completely out of left field.