I’m not going to reread the book right now (and likely will forget this the next time I read it) but my memory says that Juan was lured by the military angle, hence the book narrows on that. The recruiter was military because that was for joining military service.
The Civilian Conservation Corps seemed like an example of what Heinlein has in mind (and he often moved depression era things into his writing). Service that wasn’t military.
The US had CO camps during WWII which seemed to emulate the CCC to some extent. Alternative service to going into the military (and some walked out and into prison because they decided it was bogus).
So I think I imagined those things, and more, along with outright military service.
The notion of having to serve before getting the vote never bothered me, it was just a good SF book. All this detail and explaining comes because some have jumped on it.
Oh, come on. There’s miles and miles of difference between the courage of conscientious objectors and the cowardice of the privileged draft dodger. Don’t try and position Trump’s cowardice as anything noble. It’s highlighted as one of his innumerable evils because it is.
Exactly. The son of family friends/swim coaches was a conscientious objector during Vietnam and spent time in prison (I think 18 months?). Besides prison, I believe he may have sacrificed any possibility of participating in the '68 Olympics.
The overwhelming majority of Americans who (correctly) refused to participate in US aggression against the people of Vietnam were not people with official CO status. They hopped the border into Canada, they got hurriedly married, they hid within the college exemption, they pretended to be gay, etc.
And, yes, often their motivation was substantially driven by self-preservation rather than a deep ethical commitment.
They were still right to refuse.
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Was Trump’s draft-dodging driven by ethical concerns? Of course not.
But it was still for the best that he didn’t go. The world would have been substantially improved if every American had done the same.
He didn’t go because he gave a shit about the lives of Vietnamese peasants, which is true about other elite white men (Cheney, etc). My stepfather was expected to do their killing, because he was an expendable human being. He doesn’t give s shit about you, or me, or anyone that isn’t him. He will burn down the world to ensure non-whites aren’t empowered at all.
Having him as one of the most powerful men in the world doesn’t make the world safer or more just because it keeps more moderate neo-liberals out of power. It only puts the single most nuclear armed country in the hands of a racist fascist authoritarian.
I wish our electoral choices were different. They are not. I have NO good choices with regards to the vote. I know I’m a failure in that regard. I should have used whatever privilege I have to transform the electoral system, but instead I struggled with feeling like a human being. I’m sorry I failed you and everyone else.
R.A.H also wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, while it did spawn a social movement for a while I don’t think anybody is suggesting it be directly applied to government.
Arthur Clarke did have a good idea though: select the president at random.
That’s just old-timey democracy, really. Ancient Athenians would have been horrified at our practice of politicians standing for election rather than selecting office holders at random as the gods intended.
L. Sprague de Camp had a fantasy kingdom where the king was chosen at random, by throwing the head and crown of the previous king, freshly beheaded, into the crowd. Catcher became the new king, for a while. Those people knew the meaning of “term limits”!
I fit ultimately will end with a beheading no one sane will try to catch it. And the psychopath who thinks he is the right one to break the cycle and end up as the ultimate winner, because of course he is, will take it from the ground. And you end up again with a fascist.
They do get to live like a king for five years. The protagonist of the books accidentally caught it, and he wanted to escape from the cycle, rather than break it.
Donald’s fraudulent medical deferments didn’t hasten the end of that war one whit. They simply ensured some less well-connected person would be sent in his place.
There are a lot of things someone with Trump’s means could have done throughout his lifetime to take a stand against America’s wars. Trump didn’t do any of those things, because he’s never actually been anti-war.
His actions are driven purely by self-interest, and he thinks anyone who makes decisions based on anything but self-interest is a “sucker.” That’s the point of this story.
That would be a wrong interpretation. The actual incentive is to experience all the fame and privilege for 5 years. Even if a “catcher of the crown” is content with dying after five years, he or she probably want to ensure the fame and privilege catches for his next of kin or clan.
Change the incentives and the influence per position instead of stating an ideal no one can really expected to stand behind.
Why is there a King (overly powerful President, Chancellor, whatever you call them) in the first place? The idea of the strong man (gendered exclusively) that has the ultimate power is already one of the core ideas of fascism.
Why does any USAnian go into military service? Usually because it seems like the best option at the time. Draft avoidance may have been a best option too, but draft evasion, especially Donny’s fraud, is illegal – consequences should result.
An illegal draft evader dissing those who gave their lives for the country? That’s a foul obscenity.
