Friday, October 01, 2004

Forwarded Email

How many times have you received forwarded emails from others? Plenty I am sure. Today I was forwarded an email about the Congress reinstating the draft, or a draft like measure. The email proclaimed that a draft would begin June 15th 2005, just after a presidential election. Yeah right I thought, so I decided to take the email's advice and look up the two bills associated with the so-called draft. S 89 and HR 163. These bills actually exist, here are links to their content.

(Note I copied the HTML from http://thomas.loc.gov search this website for any and all information regarding any Senate or House bill, including S89 and HR163)

Senate Bill 89
House of Representatives Bill 163

The email went on to say that Congress is trying to sneak these bills by while the American people are busy with the elections and campaigns. I would hope the American people aren't so naive. Since the Republicans are in control of the House and Senate and I vote Republican I thought, crazy bastards. Why would they want to have this kind of publicity circulating around the internet while we're fighting a war in Iraq, have 1,053 casualties to date 10-1-2004, and a sitting Republican president is fighting hard for re-election. Someone's got it all wrong. Turns out, this bill is sponsored only by Democrats. If you look at HR 163 you can see that REP Charles Rangel (D-NY) is the author, along with a few other democrats from around the country. The Senate bill is also sponsored by a lone democrat Senator Hollings from South Carolina. Also not a wise move for someone to distribute when a democratic candidate is working hard for election. If you look further this bill was created before the war in Iraq started, and was created with Homeland Security in mind. The bill has since been referred to committee where it has stayed. You can check the validity of this, by clicking on the Bill Summary and Status link at the top of either bill's web page. Now having this bill in some committee means it might be as good as dead. Although I don't want to take that chance. I would urge that people contact their senator AND representative to tell them that they don't want these bills even considered, and they should be removed from debate in committee.


Why would any social program loving democrat want, whose primary stance is to avoid conflict at the cost of american lives, to initiate a bill that would bring back the draft you say. If you look at our military a vast majority are minorities, a large democrat constituency, who are tired of seeing their loved ones die while the rich kids go to college, and onto an MBA, and etc, etc. I believe the thought process is one that is noble (to share the burden equally) but, detrimental to our military service. If you enforce a draft that means all individuals, young 18-26 year olds as the bill states, men and women, as the bill states would have to serve in some form or fashion with the United States Armed forces. All of them. Rich, Poor, Black, White, Hispanic, Minority, or not would serve. While we would then have the numbers, and the burden would be equally shared, I fear however the value of military service would be drastically minimized. The difference between the men and women who are dying now and those who would be drafted, is that those men and women CHOSE to serve, and CHOSE to if necessary die for their country, whether or not they agreed with the decision that put them in harms way. To institute a draft NOW would be tantamount to pissing on their graves in my mind. To those who served honorably under draft conditions I applaud you, and thank you for your service. That was a different time, and a different world. The draft is not something that will keep American society moving forward in my opinion. I chose to serve in the Navy reserve, knowing that we were going to war against terrorism, and knowing that I could be called up at any time to leave my comfortable lifestyle (and my wife, and my newborn baby daughter) to share in the burden of supporting my comrades in arms, and protecting my country, and it is a choice that was easy for me to make. Don't force that on anyone!!!! Not everyone believes in America and the founding principles of our democracy that make our country what it is today. Not everyone can handle the monotony and extremely hard and dangerous work. Not everyone can put politics aside and take orders. Not everyone can see the greater good. Don't make them serve.

Our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are the best there are because they choose to serve. They are a unique cross section of American society. To institute a draft will only corrupt that, and cause us to falter in our mission of protecting our homeland, and divide the people we are sworn to protect.

At any rate, I felt that email was created to spur on fear, through no fault of the individual who forwarded it to me. I felt the need to offer a rebuttal and a chance for a somewhat objective picture of what the email was trying to convey. The prospect is real, but not impossible to stop. I urge you all to go to www.senate.gov or www.house.gov and look up your representatives and send them an email, stating that you do not want these bills to pass.


Stepping down from the soap box
john