THE LEFTY MAVENS OF MY FIELD ARE PILLORYING THIS MAN FOR DARING TO BE SANE:

OF COURSE, Dan Simmons IS violating one of Heinlein’s dictums: that only a fool or a sadist tells the unvarnished truth in a social situation.
Only he’s not a fool. I don’t think he’s a sadist. And Heinlein didn’t say anything about socialist situations.