Illustration by Abro
In the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, a future society run by the military grants citizenship and voting rights to only those who serve in the armed forces. The society is run like a quasi-fascist militarist state that glorifies war, sacrifice and patriotism and encourages a xenophobic disposition.
The novel, though successful, was also controversial. Some critics lamented that it was eulogising fascism and militarism. The Welsh-Canadian writer Jo Walton, while revisiting the novel in 2017, writes that Heinlein was making a case for limiting voting rights to a select group of people because he believed that giving this right to all adults had caused chaos and the erosion of social discipline.
Biden is a relief, but a lot needs to be done
22 Jan 2021 Joe Biden New American President Joe Biden has a tough task ahead, actually a series of challenges. His main job is uniting a nation riven by racial and economic discord, apart from doing a repair job on the damage caused to the image of the country, thanks to his impulsive and megalomaniac predecessor, Donald Trump.
He first called for stabilising a country reeling from a pandemic going beyond control, with over 400,000 Americans dead, and a growing divide over truth versus lies.
The economy is another major hurdle. It keeps shedding jobs, with unemployment hitting women and minorities the hardest. And the insurrection at the Capitol made clear the extent of the risks posed by the nation’s deep political divisions and the embrace of conspiracies and lies by many followers of Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
Biden is a relief, but a lot needs to done gulftoday.ae - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gulftoday.ae Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Historians have put the challenges Biden faces on par with, or even beyond, what confronted Abraham Lincoln when he was inaugurated in 1861 to lead a nation splintering into civil war or Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he was sworn in during the depths of the Great Depression in 1933.
WASHINGTON In the 11 weeks since Election Day, the collision of crises confronting President-elect Joe Biden have gone from staggering to almost unimaginable. More than 170,000 Americans have died…