If Bobby were historically cognizant he would have chosen either agriculture or the steam engine as the turning points of human civilization -- both of these have each engendered a completely different mode of social and economic relationships, and even the arts changed in response to them. I suspect Bobby's magical thinking (i.e. superstition) about science is at work here -- electricity has an action-at-a-distance appearance that, at least to primitive minds, is almost magical: flip a switch here, and the lights go on at the other end of the corridor. The scientifically naive sees fire burning and gears turning, or obsolete farmers toiling the fields, thinks he understands the principles behind, takes their revolutionary significance for granted, and dismisses them as mundane. Electricity is more mysterious, because there is nothing to see, and thus maintains its hold on Bobby's mind.
I have no idea what he means about "asking permission" or "holding a vote" pertaining electricity. You don't need to ask for permission to rub a plastic ruler on a wool sweater, but building a power plant will entail getting a permit which mean very likely a voting process. Again I attribute this to his magical thinking -- electricity literally comes out of nowhere! Tony Stark's glove!
