http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle443-20071111-03.html
Starship Troopers Revisited
by A.X. Perez
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise
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Starship Troopers is arguably Heinlein’s preachiest novel. This is because it is a rite of passage novel in which Johnny Rico progresses from a snot nose rich kid who “wouldn’t recognize civic virtue if it bit you in the ass” (to quote the movie version of ST which is vastly inferior to the book) to an adult who values his fellow man’s rights enough to voluntarily risk dying to defend them. Surprise, this includes a lot of internal debate in which Heinlein clearly demonstrates why ST is not a fascist book and instead is one in which the values held by a libertarian who chooses to serve his fellows through the state are spelled out.
Starship Troopers is not a fascist novel, instead it is an argument that only those who have demonstrated their love of and willingness to defend their brethren and sistern’s liberty should be trusted with political power. Golly, gee How dare Heinlein argue that?
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Did I mention that this is my favorite book?
Seriously, it was the first book I read that explained my thinking to me.
If only veterans could vote and hold office, then I bet a buck we would not be mired in losing war after losing war. I bet we be very careful about using the word “war” for anything.
We have a far better country if we were following Heinlein’s prescriptions.
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Reinke Faces Life 