To my astonishment, I have just found what may have been Heinlein's inspiration for the veteran voting system - an obscure story by Kipling, 'The Army of a Dream'. A quote: "If we don’t volunteer in some corps or another – as combatants if we’re fit, as non-combatants if we ain’t – till we’re thirty-five – we don’t vote, and we don’t get poor-relief, and the women don’t love us.” A summary can be found at

http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/20 ... ry-utopia/

and the actual story itself at:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/8676/

Good catch!

BP said "I got several resonances with another Heinlein story -- "The Roads Must Roll" for the second half of "Army of a Dream." What do you think?"

Well, maybe a bit. The esprit de corps is similar, and the song resonates a bit. Nothing very concrete.

Yes, I see. I shall read both the stories again now.

I suppose every writer chews up things he has read, digests them more or less, and sometimes regurgitates bits recognizable or unrecognizable.

In another forum, an interesting contribution was posted by a Mr. George Simmers, as follows:

*****************************
The Heinlein suggestion is an interesting one, but he may have had other
sources for the idea of disenfranchising non-volunteers.
After the Great War, absolutist conscientious objectors (those who had
refused not only conscription, but any war work at all, were released from
prison, but had their vote taken away for the next five years.
*****************************

I think this may be related. However I still think that the Kipling story was the original source for the idea, in RAH's mind. Do we actually have solid grounds for thinking that RAH did indeed read Kipling's short stories, especially this obscure one?

Bill, isn't there a reference in one of the last interviews RAH did that he looked to Kipling's short stories for inspiration, and that if any writer cant get an idea from them, he needs to give it up?

Would seem to indicate that he read them more than once...

Very interesting and insightful to read Heinlein characterize Kipling as having " racist, sexist, imperialist views". Doesn't quite jibe with much of the public perception of Heinlein's views, does it?