On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Stephen Case <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scase@olivet.edu">scase@olivet.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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. </blockquote>
<div><br></div></div>This is often repeated, and NOT true. You had to do a tour of government<br>service, but it did not have to be military. However, once you volunteered,<br>you went where they put you, so you could easily wind up in the military<br>
without intending to.<br><br>> you weren't allowed to vote-- you weren't considered to have "earned<br>> the right"-- unless you had served. <br clear="all"><br>It wasn't so much "earning the right," as proving that you were willing<br>
to put society ahead of your own personal concerns. And it extended<br>beyond voting; you also had to be a "veteran" to hold public office.<br><br>-- <br>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant<br>-----<br>
<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer">http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer</a><br><a href="http://www.danehyoakes.com">http://www.danehyoakes.com</a><br><br>I once absend-mindedly ordered Three Mile Island dressing in a restaurant and, with great presence of mind, they brought Thousand Island Dressing and a bottle of chili sauce. -- T. Pratchett<br>