IS THE LEFT CHANNELING ROBERT HEINLEIN? That’s what Andrew Stuttaford is asking over at The Corner:

One of the more peculiar notions to emerge in the last few weeks has been the suggestion by the Left that only those who are – or who have been – in the military have the moral authority to commit the nation to war.

It’s a zany, profoundly undemocratic argument and it also sounds like something out of Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (a book liberals often criticize as ‘fascist’ ) a novel in which, if I recall correctly, the only people entitled to full citizenship were those who had completed a period of military service.

What’s next? Will liberals be calling for our rule by a dynasty of warrior kings?

Well said.

UPDATE: Stuttaford’s gotten the same email I have on this one, reminding him that Heinlein’s scheme allowed non-military service, too. He’s even got the relevant passage quoted in an update over at The Corner.

MORE ON HEINLEIN: Here’s a link to a paper on military service/civil service in Starship Troopers, with all the relevant passages from the book excerpted.

STILL MORE: Jeff Cooper sensibly distinguishes between moral authority and military expertise, saving me the trouble of writing a post doing so, which I had planned to get around to sometime.