[George W. Bush]

He was a classic libertarian in most ways, with an amazingly fierce hatred for socialist and other enslaving ideologies.

I think he was mostly an anarchist libertine.

Of course, he kept switching.

I always disliked his idea of associating voting with military service. That's much closer to the ancient Roman model for the power of the legions.

The American tradition was to enfranchise only the property-owners.

As others have pointed out, his morality (and his writing) deteriorated drastically in his later years.

Repellent. The work of sick old pervert sucking money out of what remained of his reputation. Reminds me of Norman Mailer in his later career. I bought that last one used for, like, 25 cents. I was robbed.

And Asimov shouldn't have written the last Foundation book either.

I'll echo the bumps for Niven and Poul Anderson.

[Lazamataz]

The work of sick old pervert

The "sick old pervert" described love in a single sentence and explained laughter and humor to me.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I always disliked his idea of associating voting with military service. That's much closer to the ancient Roman model for the power of the legions."

And you are wrong about that. The voting rights acquisition in "Starship Troopers" was NOT associated (solely) with military service. A "term of service" in ST was just that--service to the general welfare under government direction---MOST "servees" did their service in things like the US's "Volunteers of America"--i.e. civilian service. In peacetime, only a small minority of the "servees" were in the military.

[Restorer]

I always disliked his idea of associating voting with military service. That's much closer to the ancient Roman model for the power of the legions.

Not really. The Roman legions "voted" by killing anybody who didn't go along with them. In Starship Troopers, active-duty soldiers do not have the vote, only retired veterans.

As others have pointed, "National Service" didn't mean military service necessarily. Lots of civilian services were included.

I think a system where only those who volutarily choose to serve the nation are allowed to vote makes a great deal more sense than one where the franchise is limited to the wealthy. The attitudes necessary to national service have some relationship to wise decision-making for the good of the nation. Those attitudes that help one to accumulate wealth do not have any such necessary relationship. If anything, they tend in the opposite direction.