Editing Starship Troopers (section)

===Militarism===
''Starship Troopers'' has been identified as being a part of a tradition in US science fiction that assumes that violent conflict and the militarization of society are inevitable and necessary.{{sfn|Suvin|2008|p=122}} Although the Mobile Infantry, the unit to which Rico is assigned, is seen as a lowly post by the characters in the story, the novel itself suggests that it is the heart of the army and the most honorable unit in it.{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=217}} In a commentary written in 1980, Heinlein agreed that ''Starship Troopers'' "glorifies the military{{spaces}}... Specifically the P.B.I., the [[Poor Bloody Infantry]], the mudfoot who places his frail body between his loved home and the war's desolation{{snd}}but is rarely appreciated{{spaces}}... he has the toughest job of all and should be honored."{{sfn|Heinlein|2003|p=484}} The story is based on the [[Social Darwinism|social Darwinist]] idea of society as a struggle for survival based on military strength. It suggests that some conflicts must be resolved by force: one of the lessons Rico is repeatedly taught is that violence can be an effective method of settling conflict.<ref name="Magill"/> These suggestions derive in part from Heinlein's view that in the 1950s the US government was being too conciliatory in its dealings with communist China and the Soviet Union.<ref name="Goss"/>{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=215}}{{sfn|Macleod|2003|pp=232–233}}{{sfn|King|1998|p=1021}}

Heinlein draws an analogy between the human society in the novel, which is well-to-do but needs to be vigilant against the imperialist threat of the Arachnids, and US society of the 1950s. Reviewers have suggested that the Arachnids are Heinlein's analogue for communists. Traits used to support this include the communal nature of the Arachnids, which makes them capable of a much higher degree of coordination than the humans. Bug society is once explicitly described as communist, and is moreover depicted as communist by nature; this has been read as implying that those with a different political ideology are analogous to alien beings.{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=218}}<ref name="Magill"/><ref name=Cooke/> The related motifs of alien invasion, patriotism, and personal sacrifice during war, are present, as are other aspects of US popular culture of the 1950s.<ref name="Goss">{{cite journal|last1=Goss|first1=Jasper|title=Reviewed Work(s): Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein; Starship Troopers by PaulVerhoeven|journal=Australasian Journal of American Studies|date=Jul 1998|volume=17|issue=1|pages=54–56|jstor=41415952}}</ref> Commentators have argued that Heinlein's portrayal of aliens, as well as being a reference to 1950s communist countries, aims to "reinscribe the ideologies of America's mythic [[Frontier Thesis|frontier]] history". The concept of the frontier includes a social-Darwinist argument of constantly fighting for survival, even at the expense of indigenous people or, in the case of ''Starship Troopers'', of aliens. Heinlein suggests that without territorial expansion involving violent conquest of other races, humans would be destroyed.{{sfn|King|1998|pp=1022–1023}} Scholar Jamie King has stated that Heinlein does not address the question of what the military government and Federal Service would do in peacetime, and argues that Heinlein has set up a society designed to be continuously at war, and to keep expanding its territory.{{sfn|King|1998|p=1024}}