Re: Mission to Mars

>>It says that in order to vote, you must have performed some
involuntary
>public
>>service for a few years. What in the UK would be called "National
Sevice".

>But that is just wrong.  The book says nothing at all about involuntary
>public service.  The whole POINT of Heinlein's citizenship was that it
>involved VOLUNTARY public 

Sorry, I didn't express myself clearly.

You had to volunteer for National Service (as furher reading of my post
would
indicate). But _which form_ of National Service wasn't up to you once
you'd
volunteered. You signed a Blank Cheque that let "them" put you wherever
you
were needed, "from each according to his ability, to each according to
his needs."
A good Nuclear Physicist would almost certainly be put onto Nuclear
Physics.
But an academic mediocrity in good health, an athlete with no practical
training
but high IQ could well end up in the PBI.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear. FWIW I agree with what you say, I just
didn't
express myself as cogently as you did.