Re: Starship Troopers

Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Wed, 24 Sep 1997 21:40:31 -0400

Brian Atkins wrote:
>
> With the movie coming up, I finally sat down yesterday and read it.
>
> I'm curious about what people on the list think about the style
> of government espoused in the story; the idea that only people
> who have demonstrated the ability/imagination to care for a
> group of people instead of just themselves should be allowed to
> vote and run for political office?
>
> In the story, it is assumed that being a veteran is the only
> way to prove this ability. Are there other ways to learn this
> ability, and more importantly other ways to prove you have it?

The reason vets had the power was explained. RAH presumed a future that
had gone into a near collapse, but everything was put back together by
vets, who wrote their own constitution, so its obviously a result of
self interest as much as our own Constitution's early definition of a
Negro as being 3/5ths of a man, but men who couldn't vote, for the
benefit of slaveholding southern states to hold more power in the House
of Representatives. RAH's story was to illustrate his beleif that a vet
dominated government would be a better form of democracy than the one we
have now in terms of being able to recognise and react to outside
threats.

In the "present day" of the story, its also explained that a "vet" is
anyone who has been in government service, so its apparently grown to
the point where its not quite government by bureaucracy.
> --
> The future has arrived; it's just not evenly distributed.
> -William Gibson

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!
			Michael Lorrey
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mailto:retroman@together.net	Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering
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