Feeling the Draft
In what can only be called the dumbest thing a Democrat has said in a very long while, Representative Charles "Chuck" Rangel of New York has proposed reinstating the military draft. This country, of course, has not had a draft since 1979 when President Carter did away with it. It was felt that after the war in Vietnam, and with changing military and political winds, that the draft was no longer necessary. Rangel, a Korean war vet who was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for action he saw, has proposed this before. It has failed at least twice and will fail again. He says he's doing this to promote awareness (the ever popular phrase when talking about something stupid) a nd to make people think about sending their own children out to fight.
Rangel, just re-elected for his 18th term as Representative from the 15th District of New York (which includes the Upper West Side of New York City and most of the Bronx), is the prohibitive favorite to be the head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He previous proposals called for all men 18-26 to be drafted. His latest flight of fancy calls for all people between 18-42, male and female, to enroll in the draft. While he gets points for extending the draft to women (sarcasm), he is only doing this for attention. A lot of his proposals include not only drafting young people for military service but also "for hospitals, schools" and other areas. He says he wants to broaden the make-up, ethnically and economically, of the Armed Forces. He also wants lawmkaers to think about sending all those young people off to die when they declare war. He believes, or at least has stated in the past, that if the draft were in place before the Iraq war, the United States wouldn't be in Iraq.
The claim that lawmakers won't send their own children to fight is frankly ludicrous. Michael Moore tried the same schtick in Farenheit 9/11 by confronting congresscritters on the steps of the Capitol with a camera. The problem is, well, there are already lawmakers with children or close relatives serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Representatives Wilson (R-SC), Hunter (R-CA, who just threw his hat in for the presidential race and is the outgoing chair of House Armed Services Committee), Akin (R-MO) and Senators Johnson (D-SD) and Webb (incoming D-VA) both have sons in the Armed forces. Webb famously wears his son's combat boots, and Johnson voted for the war knowing he was sending his son, a captain in the 101st Airborne, to Iraq. These are just some of the congressional leaders who have family. There are plenty of others who have other family and friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of the above named Representatives voted for the war in Iraq.
Mostly, Rangel is doing this for some kind of attention to make some kind of point. Usually, his point is war is bad, but people already know that now. Or he has a point about how unfairly racially distributed the armed forces, which even Moynihan would tell him to suck it up. Granted, right before the Iraq war began he did read aloud from one of the best written passage of Homer's The Iliad, describing the vicious, blooy conflict that awaited all of us in the years to come. And while he is right to oppose the war, re-instating the draft won't do anything to stop it. At best, it will subject more young men and women to the horrors of a new kind of warfare that will kill them or leave them scarred for life. At worst, well, let's check what happened last time they started a draft in the middle of a war.
One would think a lawmaker from that area of New York wouldn't want to see that again.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Rangel, just re-elected for his 18th term as Representative from the 15th District of New York (which includes the Upper West Side of New York City and most of the Bronx), is the prohibitive favorite to be the head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He previous proposals called for all men 18-26 to be drafted. His latest flight of fancy calls for all people between 18-42, male and female, to enroll in the draft. While he gets points for extending the draft to women (sarcasm), he is only doing this for attention. A lot of his proposals include not only drafting young people for military service but also "for hospitals, schools" and other areas. He says he wants to broaden the make-up, ethnically and economically, of the Armed Forces. He also wants lawmkaers to think about sending all those young people off to die when they declare war. He believes, or at least has stated in the past, that if the draft were in place before the Iraq war, the United States wouldn't be in Iraq.
The claim that lawmakers won't send their own children to fight is frankly ludicrous. Michael Moore tried the same schtick in Farenheit 9/11 by confronting congresscritters on the steps of the Capitol with a camera. The problem is, well, there are already lawmakers with children or close relatives serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Representatives Wilson (R-SC), Hunter (R-CA, who just threw his hat in for the presidential race and is the outgoing chair of House Armed Services Committee), Akin (R-MO) and Senators Johnson (D-SD) and Webb (incoming D-VA) both have sons in the Armed forces. Webb famously wears his son's combat boots, and Johnson voted for the war knowing he was sending his son, a captain in the 101st Airborne, to Iraq. These are just some of the congressional leaders who have family. There are plenty of others who have other family and friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of the above named Representatives voted for the war in Iraq.
Mostly, Rangel is doing this for some kind of attention to make some kind of point. Usually, his point is war is bad, but people already know that now. Or he has a point about how unfairly racially distributed the armed forces, which even Moynihan would tell him to suck it up. Granted, right before the Iraq war began he did read aloud from one of the best written passage of Homer's The Iliad, describing the vicious, blooy conflict that awaited all of us in the years to come. And while he is right to oppose the war, re-instating the draft won't do anything to stop it. At best, it will subject more young men and women to the horrors of a new kind of warfare that will kill them or leave them scarred for life. At worst, well, let's check what happened last time they started a draft in the middle of a war.
One would think a lawmaker from that area of New York wouldn't want to see that again.
So it is written, so do I see it.