Re: Mission to Mars

> I mean, seriously, the only people who get to vote are
>those who enter the military? Aside from the fact that any party that
tried
to
>put that into effect would be committing political suicide, the
economic
>effects would be awful. 

???
This isn't what the book says.

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".

There'd be heaps of Voters who would have done this working in
Hospitals, as
Firefighters, Paramedics, Ecological restoration, Miners, even Teachers.
The
point is, "the Almighty State" dictates where you go, not yourself. And
some
of the jobs are not risk-free (eg the Military, or Firefighting). But
the majority
are.

Summary: the right to being a part of the group that steers the state
has to
be earned by doing something for the state FIRST. In order to help rule
the
apathetic, you must first do a service for them.

Oh yes, in SST (the book) People in the military can't vote until they
retire.

I fail to see how this has any important economic consequences, apart
from perhaps
leading to less money being required for Civil Defence/Disaster Recovery
such
as Flood Relief, Paramedic/First Aid training, volunteer Fire
Departments etc.
as possibly 50% of the working population would have been trained in at
least
one of these areas.

Actually, I take that back. There are definite penalties: in Germany,
where
I lived for a few years, it was obvious that the removal of nearly
everybody
from the workforce for 2-3 years in their early 20s meant that the
workforce
was reduced by 5%, and GDP accordingly. Worse, it wasn't until their
early 30's
that people could even dream realistically about owning a house, rather
than
late 20's. Would this balance the benefits given above? Probably it
would exceed
them if everybody did it. So encourage more people not to try for Voter
status.
How many people vote in the US anyway? 50%? Less?
 
To bring this on-topic.... I'm sure with the Chaos overtaking the USA in
the
coming century, that the NAC as it's currently organised wouldn't be the
only
solution. I personally like the idea of FCT being run along SST(the
book) lines
- as actually written, not as interpreted by many people who've
completely missed
the point. *Read* *The* *Book*. Do it carefully, making sure you read
what it
says, not what you thought it says, nor what others have told you it
says.

FWIW I'll do the same (again). It's a cracking good book, after all,
despite
the heavy-handed polemic.