Rep. Rangel will seek to reinstate draft

AP via Yahoo! ^ | November 19, 2006 | AP

[pandoraou812]

Not everybody outside in tents in front of Bestbuy Walmart etc are young . There are plenty of older guys I saw last night waiting to get one to resell on ebay and make thousands or so they said.

[DarthVader]

HE IS OBESE!

[amutr22]

This is unreal. This is what the Libs screamed about for the last two years., "Bush will bring back the draft!!" The condemned him for it constantly, but now it's a GOOD idea???

You think Americans were against this war before? Just wait until you try and force their kids to go.

[AliVeritas]

But the truth is coming in this article:

Snip:

He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, “young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it’s our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals,” with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_on_go_co/military_draft

[Past Your Eyes]

There has to be some way to make some of these young folks realize that they might possibly have a little obligation to this country for the great life of opportunity they have here. Many of them do, of course.
Maybe the draft isn't the best way to do it. Sometimes all it takes is a little incentive to make some people take the step toward military service. I know I would have never voluntarily gone in on my own. I ended up doing two years in the Marine Corps and thirteen in the National Guard. Would have stayed for 20 if they weren't throwing out old fat basstids like me right after the Gulf War.

[amutr22]

I think he is an idiot!

[leprechaun9]

The draft should start with the 535 members of Congress! They have John Kerry's standard of education to qualify for front line service in Iraq!

[A.A. Cunningham]

Rangel votes against own draft measure

[paltz]

it's another way to build up the dying unions again

[newzjunkey]

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way..."

The outgoing Armed Services chair, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R - San Diego), has had a son in Iraq.

Saddam was just convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.

Iraq mass graves

[newzjunkey]

If they're going to demand super-equal rights, including complete domination over reproduction, women should certainly be subject to the draft. I'd hoped to ask Clinton about it in his debate with Dole back in '96.

[ilovew]

And I'm tired of people on this forum acting like we do nothing. You know NOTHING about what we do. Me and almost all of my friends are working and going to school. My parents stopped paying for ANYTHING for me when I turned 18 and left for college. Books, school, food, medicine, doctor...I've paid for everything. Next semester, I will likely be working full time and finishing my last semester of college. So don't tell me we don't do anything.

[staytrue]

War today for the US military emphasizes technology and taking few casualties than in the past and calls for a more highly trained and professional soldier than past wars.

[lndrvr1972]

All I have to say is "Word"

[lndrvr1972]

You mean OBESE...

[beyond the sea]

lol .............. his 'Gone With the Wind' look.

[paulat]

And I'm tired of people on this forum acting like we do nothing.

Bless your heart, honey! I am so proud of you (not that I did anything to make you - but you know what I mean!)

I am PROUD that you are here...thank you...now work your butt off to make us even more proud ;)

[pandoraou812]

I certainly agree with your post. I am very scared for the youth of today in many ways. Some are very spoiled and feel everything is owed to them. Some have very little and will steal or commit crimes to get what they want. Some just don't care about anything and the list could go on. I worry so much about the lack of remorse in so many young kids. They seem to have no feelings or conscience. I see parents who don't care about their children because their own lives are more important. I truly wonder about some people anymore. I can't tell you how many boys have come here to eat holiday dinners because nobody was cooking at home because the parents were out or hungover. I would like to think the military is the place for some of these boys/girls to find themselves. Others I have seen I don't hold much hope for except to pray for. Then you also see many fine young people who have their heads on straight and you know they will go far in life.

[beyond the sea]

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/scrapbook/48/Sbk/48/1000600_2_10.jpg.html?path=gallery&path_key=0068098

[CatoRenasci]

There is a signficant difference between telling citizens that, as they go about their private business they must obey certain laws and regulations, and telling citizens that they must set their private business aside altogether and, upon pain of death, do what the state tells them, ordering them about in ways (UCMJ, hierarchy) that would be quite unconstitutional in civil life. This is not Sparta.

It's one thing for citizens to voluntarily submit to military discipline, quite another to tell them they must do so. In fact, we amended the constitution to outlaw involuntary servitude, except upon conviction of crime.

I believe as strongly as anyone that citizens ought to feel a sense of obligation to preserve the state and a sense of duty that would lead them to share the burden of defending the state. That model of civic virtue rather reminiscent of the Roman republic was the founding model of the American republic: our notion of the entire male population of military age constituting the militia, but the organized militia was entirely voluntary, and subject only to limited service.

However, the fact that I think citizens ought to feel a duty does imply that I believe the state has the right to impose not only the duty but punishment for refusal to accept it. As much as I like the militia model - as a VMI man the notion of the "citizen-soldiers, attached to their native state and ready in every time of deepest peril to vindicate her honor and defend her rights" has stayed with me through the past 40 years since I first walked through the arch - I think we're better off today with a primarily professional army with strong citizen-soldier reserve elements, rather than relying on reluctant draftees.