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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: Ilaine who wrote (97853)	1/31/2005 8:00:22 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (4) of 793759

I'd rather try to persuade him by finding out what it takes to make him think it's worth his while. Coercion ain't it. I lived with and worked with and around a lot of draftees in the service. They served well and wore their uniforms with pride. I never heard one say he had been coerced. I never heard a draftee complain about serving. I never heard one ask, why me? I never met a draftee who thought his service was a waste of his time. They were persuaded to serve by a letter that started with the word, "Greetings." There was a lot behind that letter. Including a lot of of fine history. And serve they did with distinction and honor. America has had a lot of bad programs. The draft was not one of them. That is my opinion and I'm sticking to it. I understand your opinion. You want to attempt to buy the hearts and minds of our young people with $$$$. I for one do not believe it will work effectively. That concept does not fulfill what in my view is the important concept of shared sacrifice. My family produces military personnel. You don't want your family to do that. You are willing to pay my family more to serve, but you also want us to pay more taxes to pay ourselves more money so your family won't have to serve. You will never sell me that idea. Living free comes with burdens and costs. The burdens and costs should be shared equally. The IRS has never been a perfect way to share the costs of freedom but it spreads the load fairly well. The draft was also not perfect but it was a way to share the burden. Perhaps the next draft can be fixed to make the sharing more equal, though I believe the last iteration of the draft was working pretty well for a federal program. The book The Millionaire Next Door lists some very cogent reasons why American youngsters are not only not motivated by money but actually lose motivation when given too much. Having lived much of the story told in that book, I agree with the points made. Paying teen-agers $50,000 plus benefits to serve in our armed forces will not be doing them or America a favor. uw

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