The Oil Drum

Actually, the Green Party is not in favour of anything like Tolkien's vision.  While they no doubt like the sustainable part of the vision, they also want to keep our current electoral "democratic" type of politics. In fact, they complain that it is not democratic enough.  Unfortunately, democracy is very "me" oriented, and leads to short-term thinking, and therefore the pressure to clear-cut or otherwise trash the property for a quick profit come to the fore.  Democracy and sustainability are inherently incompatable and can only co-exist until the unsustainability eventually causes the democratic political and economic system to collapse.  The question then is, of course, will the planet be so badly trashed at this point that will we have the ability to rebuild any sort of decent existance even when a sustainable, hereditary system returns after the house of cards of our current democratic system has collapsed.

Antoinetta III

I think it should be noted that just because someone writes something in a story, that doesn't mean they necessarily believe it would work in the real world.  So, we have no idea what Tolkein really thought was the ideal government for the real world (unless he wrote it down somewhere outside his books).    

But the idea of a perfect heriditary power structure with enlightened rulers simply doesn't work in the real world.  If it did, we'd have achieved it long ago, but the fact is, on the whole, monarchies tended to be quite less than idea.

I would say that Tolkein's depiction of the elven society might be considered an idealistic fantasy: what might be possible in a perfect situation, with a benevolent ruler, and where everyone in society was of like mind about everything.  That doesn't mean it's a true blue print for the real world.  Incidentally, consider that if everyone in society is really of like mind, the form of government becomes irrelevant.  A democracy could work as well as an enlightened despot in that situation, because both will come to the same conclusion.  

I have to say, I think this is one of the biggest dangers of reading too much into a fantasy novel, or indeed a fiction novel of any type.  It is a construct of a person's imagination, and what works in such a constructed world may not be accurate of how things work in the real world (although I do think the best storytellers do try to achieve such realism).  

It's can be a grave mistake to cross the line from thinking something is a good story, to thinking it can give you 100% accurate insight into human psychology, or tell you how you should go about living your life.  In the end whatever is written in a fiction story is the opinion of the author, and you can often end up with works where the conclusions are simply completely false (Lord of the Flies, for one, and then there's Crichton's novel about Global Warming being a farce).  

When it comes to Tolkein's novels in particular, I would suggest that their inherent black and whiteness prevents them from accurately reflecting the imperfect shades of gray, which comprise the nitty gritty of human existence.  That doesn't mean they are bad stories, it simply means it's the wrong source to use as a guide for human government and society.  

I would say the true value of all literature is in making us think about things.  So, there is no harm in thinking about the message Tolkein might be presenting with his elven society.  But part of thinking is also rejecting ideas that are clearly outlandish and which would not work in the real world.