I agree with you as well. Given in this day in age of entitlement though citizenship rights from hard work would not go over well with the most vocal areas of society.
These kept jumping out at me when I read it. That, and discrepancies between the rhetoric of equality (among veterans etc) and then practice and the way the individuals treated one another. Evidently I like my scifi idealistic in some ways. 
But I also have to add another caveat, I’m not a huge military scifi fan, so that might also explain my lackluster response to the book.
But hey, at least now I’ve read it. Thanks, GWC people. 
I read and loved the book. Although disappointed in the movie, I still enjoyed it. They dumbed down the book - which deals with great questions on civic duty, rights of citizenship, and the use of military force.
I wouldn’t mind a ‘moral history’ class!
'Bugs Mr. Rico - billions of ‘em!’
Iron Man more than anything else made me realize that a good, accurate Starship Troopers movie is now possible
Heinlein stated in an interview that Federal service could be anything, not just the military. You hauled our paw in the air, took the oath, and then did whatever the Terran Federation required you to do. If it was herding corvette transports, that’s what you did. If it was being a clerk in a courthouse, that’s what you did. If it was putting on armor and visiting violence upon the enemies of the Federation, that’s what you did. You did what you were best suited to do. Given Rico’s abysmal math performance, and his lack of initiative in sneaking his dog in to sleep in his room, the MI was likely the best choice for him.
As to whether or not the franchise should be earned… nothing worth having is freely given… it is earned through hard work and sacrifice.
This is one of my all-time favorite books… of course, most of what Heinlein wrote is on my favorites list, though.
All,
As Starship Troopers has been selected as a group read book, the conversation will continue here