Posted on 06/14/2016 10:31:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
Ever since Donald Trump effectively won the Republican presidential nomination by decisively defeating Ted Cruz in the Indiana primary, Congressional Republicans led by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have engaged in unseemly public hand-wringing about whether they will or will not accept the people's choice. Unwilling to support the positions that Trump campaigned on -- reducing immigration, adopting a pro-American trade policy, and returning education to the local level -- Speaker Ryan dusted off his own policy agenda and promised to roll out a series of position papers to compete with those of the presumptive nominee.
One of Ryan's six task forces, entitled Restoring Constitutional Authority, announced its purpose to "Reclaim power ceded to the executive branch by ... exercising the power of the purse and conducting more robust oversight." That's a worthy goal, and the annual defense bill (known as NDAA) now moving through Congress is a great opportunity for Congress to reclaim its power to limit the use of women in the armed forces.
Unknown to most Americans, the Obama administration unilaterally decided to make military women eligible for assignment to ground combat units in the infantry and special forces. Our nation has never allowed the assignment of women to units whose mission is to seek out, engage and kill the enemy, and no other country (not even Israel) does so today.
Although women have not yet been assigned to Special Forces and combat infantry, the official change in policy has already raised the risks for military women who serve honorably in non-combat roles. It has opened the door for women to be drafted into service as combat troops in a future war.
From 1940 to 1973, the Selective Service System drafted young men into the armed forces; that's how we got combat troops for World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Since 1980, all young men age 18-26 have been required to register with Selective Service for a potential future draft, and those who fail to register are disqualified from federal student loans.
Everyone knows that the president is the commander-in-chief of America's armed forces. But our Constitution gives Congress the power "to raise and support armies;" "to provide and maintain a navy;" and "to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces."
Congress has no more important responsibility than to prevent the compulsory assignment of women to military combat, and there's no better reason why grassroots Republicans are frustrated with this Republican Congress than its failure to do so. Despite the "robust oversight" promised by Speaker Ryan, Congress has not held a single hearing on this radical change in policy about women in the military.
The failure continued last month in the House Armed Services Committee, where a draft-our-daughters provision was attached to the annual defense authorization bill with the support of 6 of the 36 Republicans on that committee. Only a procedural maneuver by the House Rules Committee was able to strip out the provision before NDAA passed the full House.
When the Senate Armed Services Committee took up its version of the NDAA, the chairman, John McCain, exercised his prerogative to add a draft-our-daughters provision to the bill. A motion by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to strike that provision was defeated when 6 Republican Senators joined all the committee's Democrats to support the registration of women for military service.
There's no Rules Committee in the Senate, which requires unanimous consent for most action, and Democrats refused to allow Mike Lee's amendment to be considered on the floor. As a result, a "No" vote on the entire NDAA is the only way to prevent the draft-our-daughters law from passing the full Senate.
The 2012 platform of the Republican Party declares categorically: "We support military women's exemption from direct ground combat units and infantry battalions." The platform also states: "We reject the use of the military as a platform for social experimentation and will not accept attempts to undermine military priorities and mission readiness." This year's Republican platform committee will convene on July 11 in Cleveland.
Military combat units draw their strength from "unit cohesion," not diversity. The U.S. Marine Corps' gender integration study, which is the most comprehensive research ever conducted on this issue, reported last September that all-male combat teams outperformed mixed-gender teams on a wide variety of measures of speed, endurance, lethality, negotiating obstacles, and evacuation of casualties.
The female Marines studied were physically fit, but they nevertheless experienced injuries at twice the rate of male Marines. Combat troops fight in small teams where the loss of one member can be fatal to all.
Relying on its study proving that mixed-gender units are less effective, the Marine Corps requested permission to keep some combat roles male-only. Obama's Secretary of Defense not only denied that reasonable request, but ordered the Corps to require Marines to undergo training to erase "unconscious bias" and clamp down on potential misgivings about women in combat.
The next war is going to last about two weeks.
After that, everyone is getting drafted.
They are fully equal citizens.
But they are not close to being drafted. There is no draft.
They would just have to send in a little card to selective service. No big deal.
Feminism has only wanted the benefits of what men have, and none of the downsides and negatives. The have the vote, they have family court that destroys men in divorces, and they have special legal status in multiple ways in the law. They have total say whether a mans child lives or dies.
They cannot send in a little card?
Itll,be longer, but yup.
Stunningly brilliant woman. Glad to see she is still going strong.
Tampax could include them in their packaging
Why would they draft women when they aren’t even drafting men?
The end of the ongoing nightmare known as the Obama administration cannot come soon enough.
Well they’re close to making the register. They’re not actually going to draft anybody.
What is Hasidim going to do?
No time anyhow, the Russians have modern weapons.
On the other hand, when the left screams about this, tell them either both sexes are the same in every way or they aren’t. If they are, sign up. If not, shut up.
Does this mean that the VAWA will get overturned so women who go into the military can be abused? Wow, women have it so easy. They have a fundamental right to choose and a fundamental right to not be abused. So, they can't be drafted because that violates their right to choose to not be abused. Of course, men don't have rights to not be abused.
Boo friggin hoo.
They all want to be “equal” until it comes to shouldering equal responsibilities. I say if you want to vote, you should have to sign up for Selective Service, regardless of your sex.
Perhaps less time, according to this song for World War III, sung in 1967 by Tom Lehrer.
Well, just when in Hell are women going to stop voting for liberals?? If they don’t want to be drafted they need to think about their choices.
I was listening to some author the other day who suggested 6weeks to three months, depending on where it starts.
The American public is so unaware of the real danger that they would not stomach a modern version of total war for very long.
Look at the consternation one guy with a Sig Sauer can cause. Imagine a carrier going down?
When the Senate Armed Services Committee took up its version of the NDAA, the chairman, John McCain, exercised his prerogative to add a draft-our-daughters provision to the bill. A motion by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to strike that provision was defeated when 6 Republican Senators joined all the committee's Democrats to support the registration of women for military service. ...Just goes to show that the party platform is meaningless. Party members can freely run against it.The 2012 platform of the Republican Party declares categorically: "We support military women's exemption from direct ground combat units and infantry battalions."
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