Politics
Starship Troopers is a political essay as well as a novel. Large portions of the book take place in classrooms, with Rico and other characters engaged in debates with their
History and Moral Philosophy teacher, who is often thought to be speaking in Heinlein's voice.[
citation needed] The overall theme of the book is that social responsibility requires being prepared to make individual sacrifice. Heinlein's Terran Federation is a limited democracy with aspects of a
meritocracy based on willingness to sacrifice in the common interest.
Suffrage belongs only to those willing to serve their society by at least two years of volunteer Federal Service – "the franchise is today limited to discharged veterans", (ch. XII), instead of, as Heinlein would later note, anyone "...who is 18 years old and has a body temperature near 37 °C"
[16] The Federation is required to find a place for
anyone who desires to serve, regardless of his skill or aptitude (this also includes service ranging from teaching to dangerous non-military work such as serving as experimental medical test subjects).
There is an explicitly-made contrast to the democracies of the 20th century, which according to the novel, collapsed because "people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted... and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears."
[17] Indeed, Colonel Dubois criticizes as unrealistic the famous
U.S. Declaration of Independence line concerning "
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". No one can stop anyone from pursuing happiness, but life and liberty are said to exist only if they are deliberately sought and paid for.
Starship Troopers is also widely-regarded as a vehicle for Heinlein's
anti-communist views. Characters attack
Karl Marx (a "pompous fraud"), the
labor theory of value ("All the work one cares to add will not turn a mud pie into an apple tart..."),
[18] and
Plato's
The Republic ("ant-like communism" and "weird in the extreme").
[19]
[edit] Military history, traditions, and military science
The
Korean War ended only five years before Heinlein began writing
Starship Troopers, and the book makes several direct references to it, such as the claim that "no '
Department of Defense' ever won a war."
[20] Heinlein also refers to the American
prisoners of war taken in that conflict, including the popular accusations of Communist
brainwashing.
[21] After the Korean War ended, there were rumors that the Chinese and North Koreans continued to hold a large number of Americans.
[22] Rico's
History and Moral Philosophy class at Officer Candidate School has a long discussion about whether it is moral to never leave a single man behind, even at the risk of starting a new war. Rico debates whether it was worth it to risk two nations' futures over a single man who might not even deserve to live, but concludes it "doesn't matter whether it's a thousand – or just one, sir. You fight."
[23]
Several references are made to other wars: these include the name of the starship that collided with
Valley Forge,
Ypres, a major battleground in
World War I, the starship
Mannerheim, a reference to the
World War II-era marshal of Finland, as well as Rico's boot camp, Camp Arthur Currie (named after Sir
Arthur Currie who commanded the
Canadian Corps during that war); a brief reference is also made to Camp
Sergeant Smokey Smith, named after a Canadian recipient of the
Victoria Cross in World War II. The airport was the location of the U.S. Army Air Corps' Walla Walla Army Air Base in World War II.
The 91st Bomb Group lays claim to being the first Army Air Forces outfit to utilize that base. Another World War I reference was the phrase "Come on, you apes! You wanna live forever?", which comes from
Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly at the
Battle of Belleau Wood (although instead of "apes", Daly said "sons of bitches"). This phrase, however, has been attributed to various people throughout military history, including perhaps the earliest documented citation by
Frederick II of Prussia when he was meant to have said "
Kerls, wollt ihr ewig leben?" (tr. "Men, would you live forever?") at the
Battle of Kolín. The
Rodger Young was named after the World War II
Medal of Honor recipient, and the lines from the chorus of
Frank Loesser's
Ballad of Rodger Young is used as the ship's recognition signal. Another war reference, this one from the
War of 1812, is the implications of the
court-martial of Third Lieutenant
William Sitgreaves Cox, which are discussed in some detail.
