Sending women, rich boys to the front

Manchester Union Leader ^ | 1/5/03 | BERNADETTE MALONE

[mrfixit514]

As a high school teacher I can tell you that trying to force some of these losers to bring a pencil and book to class and keep their head up off the desk is almost impossible. We don't need them screwing up our military.

[pray4liberty]

McNamara was royally roasted for his wretched attempt at self-justification by sources as diverse as the New York Times editorial page and Charley Reese.

You can add former President Gerald Ford to that list. I remember seeing him on TV and he really ripped McNamara to pieces.

[pray4liberty]

Somebody tell Charlie Rangel that this will set his gun-control cause back a couple of decades if all our young 'uns get firearms training, courtesy of the U.S. military.

Honestly these people really do not know which end is up.

[CatoRenasci]

Right. And how many women could carry a basic 95lb 155mm round, let alone a Copperhead or other special purpose round?

Except in times of deepest peril for the nation, and no other means of obtaining sufficient manpower, the draft should not be considered. It is involuntary servitude and contrary to the principles of a free society.

That said, there is no reason not to require military service as a qualification for holding office, for federal employment, or even for the franchise. Limiting full citizenship to those who served, whether in the military or in civilian equivilents, is a good idea: those who are not prepared to contribute to society, and consequently have a serious stake in it, should not be permitted to decide important questions for that society. Think Starship Troopers!

[CARepubGal]

Ping

[Indrid Cold]

"Frankly, everybody I've known who was drafted has regarded it as a positive experience, no matter how much they hated it at the time."

Except the dead ones, of course.

[cookie99]

Having served three tours of V/nam I can honestly say that rich kids and people of a particular religion were very under-represented on the front lines. Obviously the draft didn't work to assure social equality then.

I gather that the wealthy and others of privilege managed to send their kids to University or Canada.

The underprivileged and the true (not economic) patriots will always do the dying for their country and those that return are treated with contempt by those for whom they suffered.

[Bernard]

I don't want to draft anybody, but if there is one, my definition of fair includes everybody.

[Brytani]

Truth be told, I'm all for drafting Hillary, Babs, Murray, Ireland (feel free to add to the list) into war. We all know what happens to traitors in the military.

[metesky]

The president of my Haverhill High School senior class and captain of our football team dropped out of Harvard to go to Vietnam where, as a captain in the Marines he won a Silver Star and a Purple Heart among other medals and awards for valor.

He returned to Harvard to finish up and was an All-East defensive back on their football club.

I don't think he was alone in his endeavor. Check your premises.

Better yet, go over to Harvard some day and check out the memorial to all the Harvard men who have fought and died for the United States.

[metesky]

Except in times of deepest peril for the nation, and no other means of obtaining sufficient manpower, the draft should not be considered. It is involuntary servitude and contrary to the principles of a free society.

Libertarians lose me whenever they use this argument.

According to the Militia Law all males between 17 and 45 are members of the Militia, whether organized (National Guard, etc) or unorganized (eg., the rest of us), therefore a draft is merely the calling up of the unorganized militia.

There is no BS about slavery, sir. It is the law and has been since pretty close to the beginning of the Republic.

[metesky]

That said, there is no reason not to require military service as a qualification for holding office, for federal employment, or even for the franchise. Limiting full citizenship to those who served, whether in the military or in civilian equivilents, is a good idea: those who are not prepared to contribute to society, and consequently have a serious stake in it, should not be permitted to decide important questions for that society.

Please tell me what military branch that Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson served in.

[aristeides]

Listen to the LBJ tapes (regularly being broadcast by C-SPAN Radio,) and you can actually hear McNamara's sycophancy towards LBJ.

[RWG]

Support rangle's bill like the t shirt fighting whities was supported and soon enough it will be seen for what it is.