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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (5098)	11/20/2006 8:22:40 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 10087

Another, potentially more realistic, way of looking at this 'cost' is through the eyes of America...the cost to our conscience is lower, because when we lose these brave men and women, at least we know they went voluntarily. I don't know how that would be MORE realistic. To the extent that it is true, its just an additional perspective, but it doesn't refute or supersede the other point. I'm not sure whether the cost to our conscience is a lot lower, but maybe a bit lower (and a little bit can make the difference at the margin, between supporting a war and not supporting it). There is also the factor that those who personally don't want to serve but who might in theory be drafted if there was a draft are obviously going to be strongly motivated to fight against having a war if there is a draft, much less so if there is no draft. Additionally, we all know that the majority of the army recruits come from those in a lower income bracket. Yes, they are all brave, but additionally the military provides an opportunity and training that would not otherwise be available. It's probably not accurate to say that the majority of the army recruits come from those in a lower income bracket. Depends on what you mean by lower income bracket. To the extent there is any truth to that point and to the extent that you institute a draft but don't greatly increase the size of the military you can take that opportunity away from those in the lower income bracket. and how wrong Rumsfelds 'lean and mean' strategy was. Well you can blame Rumsfeld, or you can blame Clinton who cut back the size of the military rather severely.