Posted on 05/08/2002 10:33:16 AM PDT by Starmaker
You enjoy the luxury of being judgemental with 20/20 hindsight due to the sacrifice of those who served. Such clear perspective is seldom available when the need is immediate.
I don't question your sincerity when you claim that you'd volunteer under certain conditions and refuse to serve under others. I simply regard it as immature speculation.
Reinstating the draft in this political climate could start a armed CONSERVITITIVE revolt against the government.
And I regard your speculation of my integrity and continuity of character, idiotic.
Are we to beleive that 'lowly' citizens haven't the intelligence and wisdom to discern a worthy fight, but Kennedy, Boxer, Feinstein, Hillary, etc... do?
Especially those of us with families on or near the border.
However, some of us exceed the BP's max age, so we also need to raise the age limit.
It happens to be my favorite pub.
No speculation at all.
I told you up front that I didn't doubt your sincerity.
But your lack of reading comprehension is also indicative of immaturity.
If you're ever around, let me know and we'll split a pitcher, or 10.
What you are to believe is that when national security is jeopardized, you will seldom have either the information available, nor the luxury of time to render such an evaluation. However, your point does illustrate the importance of selecting more responsible adults as your elected representatives. I can't imagine anybody willingly risking their lives to fulfill the political agenda of the quartet you named.
And you used it, too. Didn't you? It's an old and unimpressive tactic. I stopped using it years ago.
And speaking of 'maturity', can being condescending of people you don't know be chalked up into that column? Or is that simply a different type of immaturity? Or is it not immature because you're doing it?
It's too bad you're so cheap....because you write very well.
Grow up.
It doesn't take a hundred years or access to state secrets to know that involvement in regional power struggles, civil wars, meals-on-wheels, and peacekeeping missions isn't national defense of the US.
Case in point: Bosnia. A blind, deaf, 100 year old could tell our involvement there isn't for our national defense, from day one.
While the majority of US military involvement may have to do with United States interests, those ambiguous and never-defined 'interests' and national defense are seldom the same, no matter how much our government would like us to believe they are.
However, your point does illustrate the importance of selecting more responsible adults as your elected representatives.
I believe the point is that dangerous, foolish individuals will always find a chance to wield the power we mistakenly hand the state. Handing the power of conscription to government is akin to "giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys". (Credit given to P.J. O'Rourke)
I can't imagine anybody willingly risking their lives to fulfill the political agenda of the quartet you named.
Conscription removes the ability of the people to make that decision. Conscripts will do whatever they are told, or go to jail.
No. That decision is made at the ballot box.
IMHO, conscription is the sole justification for 18-year-old suffrage.
In fact, due to conscription, I advocate full rights, privileges and responsibilities of adulthood for 18-year-olds... voting, drinking, whatever...
Remove the potential for conscription, and I become a staunch advocate of traditional 21-year-old adulthood.
At 18, the teenagers' heads are too full of adolescent mush to be considered adults.
Democracy and liberty are often confused. Democracy simply means rule by vote. Liberty means that even in a democracy (or a democratic republic) there are some decisions that the majority cannot make. The decision to sacrifice one's life in a war is one of those decisions.
In other words, your life is your own, and not the property of 51% of the population.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.