Analyzing the draft nonsense
This from CSM.
Would reinstituting the military draft even things out, spreading the responsibility while influencing politicians to think twice before sending men and women into harm's way?
I think the way this question was posed goes beyond the simple issue of draft or no draft. Here's what I mean:
"I do think we need a draft," says Charles Moskos, military sociologist and professor emeritus at Northwestern University. "Our country is experiencing what I call 'patriotism lite.' Nobody's willing to sacrifice anything. We don't even have gas rationing. Congress votes to go to war, but won't send its own children. We don't have enough troops. We've used reservists and the National Guard in an unprecedented manner."
The fascinating subtext of what Moskos is saying is that we need a draft because of an absence of responsibility. No one is willing to die for what they believe in anymore, or even adhere to smaller sacrifices. A glance at the small sacrifices made by every American during WWII will demonstrate the contrast.
Now instead we sit back from a confortable distance and criticize and condemn. We bitch and complain about paying too much for gasoline. We watch the war unfold through the lenses of the media and act as though its outcome will have no effect on us.
We are comfortable. We are sanguine. We are weak, and we feel entitled.
How did this happen? Who is to blame? I could point fingers all day long. The 1960's seemed to have a large effect on the matter, as people started focussing more and more on a Millsean sense of individual entitlement and less and less on interfacing their wants and needs with the good of the American people. It is my estimation that we are no longer the lean and fit nation we once were in the early to mid twentieth century. We are as a bloated fat ass spread over too little barstool. We gorge ourselves on American Idol and shamelessly, SHAMELESSLY, vomit the problems of today onto our children. We allow the madmen of today to become the monsters of tommorrow, and we wash our hands of it all.
We do it so we can keep drinking our fill, and pushing the responsibility onto later generations. Our politics reflect it. We'd rather endure uneasy peace than suffer a war that secures our safety. Why? Because its easy.
I don't even mean to suggest that military service is the only way to purge ourselves of our apathy. I insist that still another way lies in our determination to put aside our intellectual vanity and self-guilt to instead embrace the old notions. What is good for America, is good for Americans. What hurts America, inevitably hurt Americans.
We need to awaken from our apathy. Wake up and smell the evil festering around you.
Would reinstituting the military draft even things out, spreading the responsibility while influencing politicians to think twice before sending men and women into harm's way?
I think the way this question was posed goes beyond the simple issue of draft or no draft. Here's what I mean:
"I do think we need a draft," says Charles Moskos, military sociologist and professor emeritus at Northwestern University. "Our country is experiencing what I call 'patriotism lite.' Nobody's willing to sacrifice anything. We don't even have gas rationing. Congress votes to go to war, but won't send its own children. We don't have enough troops. We've used reservists and the National Guard in an unprecedented manner."
The fascinating subtext of what Moskos is saying is that we need a draft because of an absence of responsibility. No one is willing to die for what they believe in anymore, or even adhere to smaller sacrifices. A glance at the small sacrifices made by every American during WWII will demonstrate the contrast.
Now instead we sit back from a confortable distance and criticize and condemn. We bitch and complain about paying too much for gasoline. We watch the war unfold through the lenses of the media and act as though its outcome will have no effect on us.
We are comfortable. We are sanguine. We are weak, and we feel entitled.
How did this happen? Who is to blame? I could point fingers all day long. The 1960's seemed to have a large effect on the matter, as people started focussing more and more on a Millsean sense of individual entitlement and less and less on interfacing their wants and needs with the good of the American people. It is my estimation that we are no longer the lean and fit nation we once were in the early to mid twentieth century. We are as a bloated fat ass spread over too little barstool. We gorge ourselves on American Idol and shamelessly, SHAMELESSLY, vomit the problems of today onto our children. We allow the madmen of today to become the monsters of tommorrow, and we wash our hands of it all.
We do it so we can keep drinking our fill, and pushing the responsibility onto later generations. Our politics reflect it. We'd rather endure uneasy peace than suffer a war that secures our safety. Why? Because its easy.
I don't even mean to suggest that military service is the only way to purge ourselves of our apathy. I insist that still another way lies in our determination to put aside our intellectual vanity and self-guilt to instead embrace the old notions. What is good for America, is good for Americans. What hurts America, inevitably hurt Americans.
We need to awaken from our apathy. Wake up and smell the evil festering around you.
Labels: Ideology
posted by Sigmatus at 5:49 PM
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