So I’m sitting in the front room smoking a cigarette after Thanksgiving dinner at my Wife’s aunt’s house…and what should come on the radio but Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant.” Congressman Rangel’s recent proposed bill to reinstate the draft immediately came to mind. Last week’s news, I know.
Seemed for a whole 48 hours there that where ever I turned, everyone was chipping in their 2¢. Some called it a return to slavery*. TRex served up some delicious snark. Others simply said, no way*. I think everyone--including Rep. Rangel--is missing the mark, somewhat. First of all, I’d like to see someone tell Alvin York or Freddie Stowers they were fucking slaves. Second, I’d like to know what happened to, “ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country.”
I definitely have seen more posts in the last week regarding the draft (never mind O.J.), than marking 43 years since Jack Kennedy was struck down by the military industrial complex. Yes, I know, awfully tinfoil hat of me. Yet, that’s my opinion. If Bill O’Reilly is entitled to his, I’m sure as hell entitled to mine. Just about the only difference is he gets paid, but I digress.
The point is it is an honor to serve in the military. That's a fact, not an opinion. Enlisted. Commissioned. Draftee. Bonus Baby. Active Duty or National Guard. It is an honor, if not a duty. To serve your Country, to ask not what your country can do for you...
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...Now through the Looking Glass:
Seems like in the aftermath of the mid-term election this whole month has been a reflection on where we were last year compared to now. See here, here, and here.
I received and e-mail this weekend announcing Patrick Resta's stepping down from the Board of the IVAW. I met Pat once at a demonstration in Washington. Seemed a decent fellow, here's what he had to say upon stepping down:
This sums up what I've been thinking, in part, since I stopped going to protests earlier this year. The first name that comes to mind is Cindy Sheehan. The most important thing Pat says here is, "This war will only end when service members and their families make it." I wouldn't have believed that awhile ago. After watching Sir, No Sir! I am of a changed mind, however.After almost two years I have grown tired of having the same discussions about what needs to happen and why. This war will only end when service members and their families make it. That will only happen when they get involved in the discussion. The need to reach your average service member and get them involved should be the obvious #1 mission to everyone. But, I’m left with the distinct impression that it isn’t and I believe that others sense it as well.
When I was working as the Northeast & New England Regional Coordinator I traveled pretty much every weekend throughout PA, NJ, CT, RI, and MA. I would call inactive members in the geographical area that I was in and see if they wanted to meet up after the event. Only one of them would meet with me and he won’t speak publicly on our behalf because he’s uncomfortable being linked to us. Something’s very wrong when we have that happening on such a large basis and it needs to be fixed.
By allowing people to bring their personal identity politics into IVAW we have weakened our message, alienated new/potential members, and allowed the enemy to label us too easily. We all have our own politics and causes but I had hoped that people would check them at the door for the good of the organization. Allowing people to misrepresent themselves and their experiences in our name is tantamount to handing the enemy a drum of SAW ammunition in a firefight. Instead of being rebuked and dismissed for the damage that they’ve done to IVAW and all of its members these individuals are coddled. Those that want the war to continue are saving all of these things up and when IVAW is viewed as a real threat to the war these things will all be made public.
So here we are, paradoxes and all. I believe their should be a draft. I believe America would be a better Nation because of it. I think Liberals/Leftists/Progressives have removed themselves from too many areas and institutions. In this void the Right-wing has run a muck. In the discussion of "Go Big, Go Long, Go Home," almost everyone one hears the same echoes of the Administration coming from the heads of the Active Duty component of the military. I don't believe this would be the case if you had a wider more representational feel to the military that a draft would affect. The problem is devising a system where that actually happens
-Two last things to note:
Who really ended the draft?
...and the only objective opposition argument I've found so far.
