OFF: Starship Troopers (was Classic Rock)

[M Holmes]

J. Michael Looney writes:

> British people, in general, not just Moorcock, have little problem with
> American politics, just as Americans have a LOT of trouble with the whole
> British system of government.

I assume you meant "have a little trouble"? That's generally true in my
experience and is most obvious in the inability of Brits to see why guns
are regarded as a right in the US.

Personally I'm an admirer of the US Constitution in general and
Jeffersonian politics in particular, though of course I wouldn't want to
own slaves. Or at least not in a coercive way.

> Heinlein was not authoritarian, he was ,if you must use a single word
> poltical lable, a Libertarian.

Perhaps later. He definitely tended towards the right in his earlier
days and perhaps the militaristic bent is part of that. He seems pretty
similar to Pournelle except perhaps without the "Let them eat cake"
attitude.

Still, I'm Libertarian enough to let Heinlein call himself one if he
wants to ;-)

> >> and the fact that
> >> no-one got blown up by their own nuclear bombs it was a disappointment.
> >
> >Ha ha, how true  :)
> This was an issue that R.A.H did in fact cover in the book.  Things about
> not shooting to close to your self and how the armor of the troopers was
> designed to stop short term effects.

Missing out the power-suits took away a lot of the interest IMHO.

FoFP