So Boston is in favor of mandatory military service right out of high school?!?
I don't like the idea of a draft. It makes me sick. I hate seeing people forced into voting for two parties, let alone seeing them forced to fight for ANY reason (hell, I hate to see people FIGHT at all). If war were necessary to the survival of the nation--- if a war began that THREATENED our families and homes, not just our oil interests--- I maintain that enough people would enlist (or help anyway they could) through the dark times.
Mandatory military service is just not the American way. We're supposed to have the freedom to disagree with our government. That's what makes this country great, right?? The freedom? How can we disagree with the same government that is making us fight and DIE for its own causes?! Where does it end?
If, like Krugman suggests, Bush is going to slide us into a draft, I don't think the American people will stand for it. There will be burning draft cards on Main streets nation wide. No parent raises children so that they can go to war. This is no longer the time for a Spartan-style militaristic society. Plus, that system already failed.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't go, but I'm saying that I would probably resent the shit out of it. Just for being FORCED into it, I'd be less likely to assume that the government had the best intentions. And granted, there are those times when a nation does need to demand the help of its people for its own survival... but... think of it this way:
When a nation is demanding the service of its people, isn't it clear that the population already doesn't care enough to help willingly? That being the case, why would you fight and die for some failing political entity? Maybe when someone is invading, we'd be happier under the new system anyway. Its important to remember that being AMERICAN doesn't really mean anything. It just says that you were born or immigrated to one side of an arbitrary and imaginary line... granted, there are cultural ramifications, but those can transcend boundaries--- I feel culturally closer to the Canadian maritimes than I do to Texas, that's for sure. And if the threat to the nation is one of an oppressive, evil, anti-freedom state, people would rally behind their BETTER system.
It is my belief that we should be humans first. Be proud of where you are from, not because your team can win the olympics, but because you know its a wonderful, free place to live. I love the USA because I do have the freedom to think and write and say what I believe there. As soon as I'm forced to fight, however, I lose the freedom that I'd want to defend in the first place.
