Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

young, male, and healthy, he may wind up as cannon fodder. But there are long

chances against

it.

2. He/she can resign at any time other than during combat-i.e., 100%ofthe

time fori9 out of2O; 99%± of the time for those in the military branches of federal

service.

3. There is no conscription. (I am opposed to conscription for any reason at

any time, war or peace, and have said so repeatedly in fiction, in nonfiction, from

platforms, and in angry sessions in think tanks. I was sworn in first in 1923. and

have not been off the hook since that

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time. ~.4y principal pride in my family is that I know of not one in over two

centuries who was drafted; they all volunteered. But the draft is involuntary

servitude, immoral, and unconstitutional no matter what the Supreme Court says.)

4. Criticism: “The government in STARSHIP TROOPERS is militaristic.”

“Vlilitaristic” is the adjective for the noun “militarism,” a word of several

definitions but not one of them can be correctly applied to the government described

in this novel. No military or civil servant can vote or hold office until after he

is discharged and is again a civilian. The military tend to be despised by most

civilians and this is made explicit. A career military man is most unlikely ever to

vote or hold office; he is more likely to be dead-and if he does live through it,

he’ll vote for the first time at 40 or older.

“That book glorifies the military!” Now we are getting somewhere. It does

indeed. Specifically the P.B.I., the Poor Bloody Infantry, the mudfoot who places

his frail body between his loved home and the war’s desolation- but is rarely

appreciated. “It’s Tommy this and Tommy that and chuck him out, the brute!-but it’s

‘thin red line of heroes when the guns begin to shoot.'”

~4y own service usually doesn’t have too bad a time of it. Save for very

special situations such as the rivers in Nam, a Navy man can get killed but he is

unlikely to be wounded.. . and if he is killed, it is with hot food in his belly,

clean clothes on his body, a recent hot bath, and sack time in a comfortable bunk

not more than 24 hours earlier. The Air Force leads a comparable life. But think of

Korea, of Guadalcanal, of Belleau Wood, of Viet Narn. The H-bomb did not abolish the

infantryman; it made him essential. . . and he has the toughest job of all and

should be honored.

Glorify the military? Would I have picked it for my profession and stayed on

the rolls the past 56 years were I not proud of it?

I think I know what offends most of my critics the most about STARSHIP

TROOPERS: It is the dismaying idea that a voice in governing the state should be

earned instead of being handed to anyone who is 18 years old and has a body

temperature near 3 7°C.

But there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Democracies usually collapse not too long after the plebs discover that they

can vote themselves bread and circuses. . . for a while. Either read history or

watch the daily papers; it is now happening here. Let’s stipulate for discussion

that some stabilizing qualification is needed (in addition to the body being warm)

for a voter to vote responsibly with proper consideration for the future of his

children and grandchildren-and yours. The Founding Fathers never intended to extend

the franchise to everyone; their debates and the early laws show it. A man had to be

a stable figure in the community through owning land or employing others or engaged

in a journeyman trade or something.

But few pay any attention to the Founding Fathers today-those ignorant,

uneducated men-they didn’t even have television (have you looked at Monticello

lately?)- so let’s try some other “poll taxes” to insure a responsible electorate:

a) Mark Twain’s “The Curious Republic of Gondor”- if you have not read it,

do so.

b) A state where anyone can buy for cash (or lay-away installment plan) one

or more franchises, and this is the government’s sole source of income other than