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The way I understood it, it's not really that the society is run by the military itself, but that you need to serve in the military in order to be granted voting rights and right to run for office. Maybe I misunderstood, but according to my reading it seemed like a very selective democracy rather than a dictatorship. The teacher in officer cadet school implied that the reason why it works is because the military (in-universe, probably not in reality) is a very selective institution that filters out those with poor moral character, or those who are too incompetent, or who have mental health issues, etc. I don't think Trump could have gained political rights in the Starship Troopers universe... I find it hard to just dismiss the idea as "too fascistic" at least, but probably there are other arguments.

I also thought the part where Rico's father suddenly shows up and has done a 180 on his view of the military was pretty stupid. The best part of the book was the boot camp section, mostly because it was funny how relatable it was. If you've been through training it's full of moments where you go "haha, yeah sergeants are really like that," or "oh yeah, seeing a woman for the first time in like a month felt exactly like that." Even so I don't (and didn't) like the military but it was nice to read a book dedicated to the virtues of the soldiering business, and that is exactly what this book was. Everything in the book is selected such that it portrays something good about the military. You might remark that it's one-sided, but sometimes there's something to be gained from listening to someone like Heinlein and (crucially) letting them finish. Afterwards, you can take from the lecture what you want, and read about anti-militarism and such as it applies to the real world instead of Heinlein's fantasy world.

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A bit wider-scope, but Heinlein's writing has survived based on strength of premise, not of prose; his longform work always ends up being mostly longwinded holier-than-thou lectures about whatever bug he had up his ass while writing. His "conservative hippy" book Stranger in a Strange Land might be a fun future book-club entry based purely on the near-plasma temperature his takes would have on BOTH sides of the aisle (women are impulsive and unintelligent and require men to guide them and homosexuals are psychotic on the same level as a schizophrenic... but also nudist free-love is awesome and cannibalism is A-OK so long as you aren't killing people!)

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