Starship Troopers

What does the film, based loosely upon the Robert Heinlein novel, tell us about director, Paul Verhoeven's opinion of the novel? What is the message the film and novel transmits concerning civil/military relations today? What is the role for philosophical and ethical education in Heinlein's vision of secondary and post secondary education? What does he have us consider with regard to the notion of voluntary national service being a pre-condition for exercise of the franchise? What does the vision of the future, in the film and novel, tell us about the ideal of the military as a merit based organization? What is his vision with regard to gender and racial identity in the military?