Urth Digest, Vol 51, Issue 18

In response to the comments on it not being a good idea that everyone should vote, this was a main premise in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. In that society, you weren't considered a citizen (and thus allowed to vote) unless you had served a tour in the military. It wasn't mandatory that you served (like in certain contemporary European countries), but you weren't allowed to vote-- you weren't considered to have "earned the right"-- unless you had served. This was a primary motivation (if I recall correctly) of the main character joining up. I'm not sure how much of this was kept in the movie . . . -Steve

This is often repeated, and NOT true. You had to do a tour of government service, but it did not have to be military. However, once you volunteered, you went where they put you, so you could easily wind up in the military without intending to.

It wasn't so much "earning the right," as proving that you were willing to put society ahead of your own personal concerns. And it extended beyond voting; you also had to be a "veteran" to hold public office.

The movie was an excellent adaptation of a cover of a book by Robert A. Heinlein! Adam

This might be true. It is certainly what Expanded Universe says. But it does not appear to be what the text of Starship Troopers says. There's an excellent essay by David Gifford examining this discrepancy. http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/ftp/fedrlsvc.pdf Adam

Adam Thornton <adam at io.com> writes:

I dunno, I found the movie an excellent parody of the book. The events of the movie weren't the events of the book, but the society portrayed by the movie is the society that I think the ideas in the book would have created in practice.

I just like saying "D??gie Hauser." Adam