Colloquy with a braying jackass--and with those who should know better...

presenceofmind.net ^ | December 30, 2002 | Greg Swann

[Greg Swann]

Colloquy with a braying jackass--and with those who should know better... by Greg Swann

New York Representative Charles Rangel, a Democrat if not a democrat, plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session of Congress that would make military service universal and mandatory. So says CNN.com after Rangel's appearance on CNN's 'Late Edition.' So says newsday.com. And so says the ever-vigilant Carl from Oyster Bay, Carl Limbacher on newsmax.com. Rangel of course is a braying jackass, with a voice befitting his origins, and each of these sources let him bray in his own behalf: I'm going to introduce legislation to have universal military service to let everyone have an opportunity to defend the free world against the threats coming to us. The important word there is let. The implication is that, somehow, people choosing not to volunteer for our all-volunteer military are being unfairly denied that opportunity. Now you might think that this is yet another call for mandatory youth slavery, about which I wrote a few years ago. Not quite. Rangel advocates universal military conscription as a peace-keeping measure. I'm not joking. I think, if we went home and found out that there were families concerned about their kids going off to war, there would be more cautiousness and a more willingness to work with the international community than to say, 'Our way or the highway.' Yes, this is the way politicians and generals have always behaved with conscript armies. Because recruitment costs are (ahem) free, they wouldn't even think of wasting troops in pointless infantry actions. Would they? When you talk about a war, you're talking about ground troops... Not in an all-volunteer army. Even without the blood-on-TV penalty, volunteer troops are too dear to waste. ...you're talking about enlisted people... Very well-trained, highly-skilled enlisted people, who will re-enlist only in exchange for even more training. ...they don't come from the kids and members of Congress... And they won't after 'universal' conscription, either. Welcome to Earth, Charlie. It's the big blue one, third one in from the middle... Some libertarians might do well to follow Rangel's path back to terra cognita. Whatever evil designs an arch-fiend like John Poindexter might be concocting, he is a small threat compared to National Youth Slavery, of which Rangel's universal military conscription is an implicit if not explicit variant. My friend Billy Beck is afflicted by a master-debater who cannot distinguish between 'freedom' as the word might be applied to Karl Marx's not-hungry man and 'freedom' as the word is applied to a manumitted slave. The only context for which 'freedom' has meaning as a political concept--as distinct from an existential 'freedom to act'; "my nose is unstopped so now I am 'free' to blow it"--is freedom from other people. While you are proscribed by taxation and circumscribed by regulation--while your children are threatened with conscription, possibly to have their very lives stolen from them--while you are menaced by a vicious theocracy that seeks to rob all of us of our minds, women and children first--while you are truly enslaved and stand at risk of total slavery, a veritable poindexter snooping through your underwear drawer is not a priority. May god make you so safe from slavery that it is. Meanwhile, libertarians, civil libertarians and sane Republicans: Welcome to Earth. It's the big blue one, third one in from the middle...

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[trebb]

Actually might not be a bad idea - let the volunteer force keep doing the important work and use the conscripts for the s**t work that anyone can do. Those that go the conscript route earn bare minimum and have no on-going benefits once they reenter civilian life. It would save money and get everyone involved in the country.

Of course we wouldn't want NOW and MS Burke to be upset about things, so we need to include females from the get-go...

[harpseal]

While I favor universal military training, to let every American understand what must be done to keep and maintain an infantry weapon in good useable condition, I do not favor consciption except in times of invasion or declared war where we have been attacked and such is the only recourse. Such training is IMHO a madatory prerequisite to understanding the problems and needs of national defense and the incrase in professional military recruiting that one may expect from increased exposure to the discipline necessary for such training would be another benefit. Further, maintainence of training standards for all citizens would provide a reserve pool of trained individuals who could be called up in times of actual crisis. Participation in such a pool would result in eligability for government benefits such as student aid, attendance at state funded colleges, eligibility for public employment, or any other government aid program.

You will notice I did not make exception for consciencious objection or physical disability. Clearly there are jobs that just about anyone can do to help maintain our national defense. Further, CO's could learn the manual at arms without every fighting anyone and they may understnad what is required of their bretheren better

In short what I favor is education as to what it will take to serve in the military as part of the basic education of all Americans.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown