It was a book written by a good author, in response to the
actions of our POWs in Korea.

The point is that service at risk of life shows a level of
dedication. This is reflected by the path to citizenship
open to military volunteers.

Owning land is a means to display dedication to the society.
The founding fathers were in favor of unorganized militia
and were against standing armies. But service was
encouraged, even if it meant that a rich person might hire a
substitute for his service.



"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| STARSHIP TROOPERS, Service equals Citizenship. You have
all
| the rights, except the right to vote unless your risked
your
| life.
| There are other ways to serve a country besides military
service.
| You're honestly telling me your average 18 year old Army
recruit is
| remotely intelligent about politics? I don't think so.
For that
| matter, my brother's OCS class wasn't exactly full of
political scholars
| (or any other kind of scholar)
|
| If I ruled the USA, voters would have to pass a test run
by
| a machine, identify certain people by their picture,
pick
| the correct answer to a few questions on the
Constitution.
| Which people you ask? Public figures from history;
Lincoln,
| Grant, Lee, Henry, Washington, Ike, Reagan, their
current
| Congressman and Senators, maybe some Supreme Court
members.
| What history? Random questions, anything, Civil War,
WWI
| and WWII, Mexican War 1 and 2, Bill of Rights, enough to
| show they have some interest and are aware of the
issues.
| Good luck with that. Unfortunately, you can't legislate
intelligence
| (but it would make my life easier!)