books | Random Writes & Rongs

From a more civilized time.

“There is an old song which asserts that “the best things in life are free”. Not true! Utterly false! This was the tragic fallacy which brought on the decadence and collapse of the democracies of the twentieth century; those noble experiments failed because the people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted… and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears.”

Quote from Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers 1959 Chapter 6

Well hey everyone I’m back and to day I just wanna talk about Robert Heinlein’s book and one of my favorite discoveries Starship Troopers.

For any Sci Fi nerd the Movie is the first thing that comes to mind. It was one of those fantastic sleeper hits that somehow came together despite small budget, no name actors, B-movie special effects, a screen play that never comes near to equal it’s name sake and yet, I have watched it numerous times.

Becoming a civilian ain’t easy.

And so when I saw the book at a thrift store a couple years back of course I had to buy it. I had read other Heinlein’s book but was not prepared for what I found in the pages.

I woke up this morning and knew I had to post something about this fantastic book which should be required reading for every American young person.

To vote is to wield authority; it is the supreme authority from which all other authority derives—such as mine to make your lives miserable once a day. Force if you will!—the franchise is force, naked and raw, the Power of the Rods and the Ax. Whether it is exerted by ten men or by ten billion, political authority is force.

Ever Ready!

Quote from Robert Heilein’s Starship Troopers 1959 Chapter 12

The thing is Heinlein couldn’t have possibly known about MTV and the rock the vote campaign could he have?

To permit irresponsible authority is to sow disaster; to hold a man responsible for anything he does not control is to behave with blind idiocy. The unlimited democracies were unstable because their citizens were not responsible for the fashion in which they exerted their sovereign authority . . . other than through the tragic logic of history. The unique ‘poll tax’ that we must pay was unheard of.

Never Readies!

No attempt was made to determine whether a voter was socially responsible to the extent of his literally unlimited authority. If he voted the impossible, the disastrous possible happened instead—and responsibility was then forced on him willy-nilly and destroyed both him and his foundationless temple.

Quote from Robert Heilein’s Starship Troopers 1959 Chapter 12

Oh…if it weren’t so sad I could make a joke about it…

Without debating the usefulness or morality of planned parenthood, it may be verified by observation that any breed which stops its own increase gets crowded out by breeds which expand,

I never thought of it that way!

Quote from Robert Heilein’s Starship Troopers 1959 Chapter 12

The nature of this liberal idealism is technically flawed at it’s very core with the premise that other culture’s or races will indeed validate our rights, including the right to exist.

Heinlein’s dispels that notion in a hilarious fashion.

Man is what he is, a wild animal with the will to survive, and (so far) the ability, against all competition. Unless one accepts that, anything one says about morals, war, politics—you name it—is nonsense. Correct morals arise from knowing what man is—not what do-gooders and well-meaning old Aunt Nellies would like him to be. The universe will let us know—later—whether or not Man has any “right” to expand through it. In the meantime the M.I. will be in there, on the bounce and swinging, on the side of our own race.