[ArkyBeagle]

For citizens, it was the basis of all political morality/legitimacy . There was a pretty well-kept wall between the citizens and the rest of the populace. By joining up, Rico is disowned by his father. And otherwise, Rico is a square-jawed fkup.

I always took that as a way to keep the economy and the war-machine separate. You get the general vibe that it's an otherwise post-scarcity society.

If you were a citizen, you were part of the part of society that used force. It's the basic Libertarian trope about force in that regard.

SFAIK, ST was based on ideas from the Swiss system, obviously drawn to the exponential.