A case for the draft

It's not about bailing out the imperialists in the Bush administration but about the need to share the sacrifices of war. The Bush administration has been very careful to insure that the sacrifices of the war in Iraq were not shared. This of course includes the unheard of massive tax cuts at a time of war and the constant mantra of be happy and spend money. Over at A Little Left of Centrist , Robert bemoans the fact that the 1966 Stephen Stills song, "For What It's Worth" (some people know it as "Stop, Hey, What's that Sound"), is no longer relevant. (He has the lyrics posted for those of you too young to remember and those of you who are so old you can't remember.)

While I would like to believe the song is still relevant, I don't believe it is. The youth of today are a little too complacent to protest en masse the way they did in the '60s and early '70s. Unfortunately, not enough young people care enough today to dedicate themselves to a cause. Sure, one might argue that rallies and protests still occur, but they are certainly not the near daily or weekly demonstrations witnessed during the later years of the Vietnam War. The last election showed that the majority of younger voters couldn't even make enough time to go to the polls and cast a ballot.

This impassive, callous attitude is a byproduct of consumerism and the remnants of the "Me Generation". While I certainly wouldn't call for a return to the massive protests of the past, I would love to see more passion in the state of the world. Although there is nothing that rouses ardent political positions for the current generation, if the military continues to have troubles filling their ranks and the government returns to a mandatory draft, that might be the impetus needed to awaken them from their stupor.

My contention is the thing that brought young people out of their "stupor" in the 60's and 70's would fit very well with the "Me Generation". It was the mechanism that made most share the sacrifices of the war, THE DRAFT. I entered the US Army after I graduated from college in 1968. I "volunteered" but I certainly would not have if the threat of the draft had not been hanging over my head. I ended up it a unit made up of recent college grads and high school grads from blue collar neighborhoods. I served with the sons of Doctors, Lawyers, Diplomats and college professors. I also served with the sons of laborers, mechanics and policeman. The sacrifices were shared. The young people and their parents all had something to lose as a result of the war. The young people took to the streets to protest. My father, a business man, a Republican and a WWII veteran opposed the war. Would he have opposed the war without the threat that his oldest son might be killed in a jungle several thousand miles away? I will never know.
A war that is not shared is less likely to be questioned. If you look at the protestors today you will see few young people but many of the same people who protested the Vietnam war 35 to 40 years ago. They remember the shared sacrifice.

The draft should be seen as an anti-war tool. Shared sacrifices lead to increased questioning and demands that those in power be held accountable.