<Many people were in the military who were anti-war and many were in who were neutral but willing to fight if they were ordered to do so by their commanders. Kerry was in the military and anti-war ... as were many of that period. Ever heard of the draft?>
And the draft is being threatened again.
Being drafted to defend freedom is an oxymoron. Cowards who don't wish to pay the market-determined price of their freedom enslave others who are forced against their will to kill and be killed.
At the time I admired Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali who told the cowardly thugs where they could go with their conscription of him. The cowardly government officials attacked him and punished him for having a mind of his own. What price freedom? He pointed out that Vietcong didn't call him nigger.
It's funny to see the Rabid Republican Right in this stream, all gung ho to defend freedom, subscribing [to use the word loosely since they have deep pockets and short arms] to the idea of compulsory military service, the press gang, conscription, and force, with threat of prison for the recalcitrant, or death if one resists sufficiently.
Neocon called Islamic Jihad people cowards. True cowards are the conscriptors. Neocon did, on reflection, realize that Islamic Jihadists can't realistically be called cowards. I wonder if he can see that those in favour of conscription are self-centred greedy cowards.
I note that Hawkmoon is paid the going rate to provide services in Iraq.
Conscription provides cannon fodder for the "real" military people to be the boss and order said conscripts around. If all the generals and muckity-mucks and politicians who support and enact the draft were to be paid the same as the lowest paid of the conscripts, and pay rates for citizens and all government employees were also reduced to the same lowest rate, I can see it would be a bit more reasonable.
It would then look remarkably like the worst excesses of totalitarian communist rule, which is apparently a great threat to be confronted with noocular weapons and everything else. One would have to declare war on oneself. Weird, but that's what freedom means! Another civil war. Bring it on!
Mqurice |
