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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (15706)	1/7/2002 5:51:46 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Sure, you get a lot of saluting, but that doesn't invent the theory of relativity. Maurice, even Einstein recognized that some things are worth fighting for. he was a staunch peace activist until he learned of german and japanese atrocities...then he joined a group urging the president to use the A bomb. uw

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (15706)	1/7/2002 7:12:07 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

It doesn't win their hearts, minds and obedient creativity, but it can force compliance on most. Which is of course why conscription, Mao, Stalin and other authoritarian wacko stuff never achieves much. Sure, you get a lot of saluting, but that doesn't invent the theory of relativity. Mq, Have you ever read the notorious "Channeling" document put out in the sixties by the U.S. Selective Service System? It's all about lining people up in rows and getting them to follow arrows pointing in various predetermined directions. It reappears in my nightmares whenever I hear folks talking about a universal draft... alamo.nmsu.edu The totalitarian communist countries followed the above philosophy for a long time, which helps explain why that ideology was consigned to the dustbin of history. The U.S. rejected this approach decades ago, and as a result freedom-loving college dropouts and hippies like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did whatever they felt like doing. Unfettered by "the club of induction", they invented dangerous concepts like personal computers (which were outlawed in totalitarian countries), and induced millions of young children to waste their talents playing non-productive computer games. But then a funny thing happened. These computers became fully integrated into our military, and the boys who played computer games grew up with the necessary skills to man modern computerized tanks, helicopters, and fighter planes. Would universal selective service make our country stronger? I don't think so. We are strong because of our freedom to follow our creative impulses.