-I don't wholeheartedly agree (as I understand there is a good chunk of middle class already in the armed forces).
I'm not sure where that figure is being drawn from. Do you mean that military pay elevates soldiers into the middle class? I'll give you that.
Or do you mean that middle class folks join to serve in enlisted ranks? I doubt that. Every study I've seen has reported that the ranks of enlisted are overwhelmingly made up of the poor, lower class and minorities.
-But a draft wouldn't change that as many of the means of avoiding the draft (college etc.) are a direct reflection of economic standards...
Actually, Bush the elder issued an Executive Order that stated that college enlistment would no longer defer one from military service if one was called upon to serve. Before that being in college allowed you to not be shipped to overseas deployments if you were in the reserves. He did that mainly to pull the reserves (which was mostly composed of college students) into Desert Shield. I know. I was one.
-What would you think about an automatic 'war tax', levied any time Congress passed an act of war?
That's a decent start. But I'd rather see us get rid of the standing army and have quasi-local, but nationalized, militias composed of conscripted recruits.
I believe that *every* single U.S. citizen has an obligation to provide this country with two years of service, (either military or social) upon graduating High School.
I think that there should be an element to allow for different types of service, i.e. Peace Corps & AmeriCorps in addition to the Marine Corps. As well as differing terms of service 2 years for active duty, vs. 6 years of reserve, etc.
And as to the language- I hate how many people have come to see citizenship as nothing but rights and little to no obligations.
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Re: my initial <point> was the whole fraud for war thing...
Date: 2006-07-05 06:20 pm (UTC)I'm not sure where that figure is being drawn from. Do you mean that military pay elevates soldiers into the middle class? I'll give you that.
Or do you mean that middle class folks join to serve in enlisted ranks? I doubt that. Every study I've seen has reported that the ranks of enlisted are overwhelmingly made up of the poor, lower class and minorities.
-But a draft wouldn't change that as many of the means of avoiding the draft (college etc.) are a direct reflection of economic standards...
Actually, Bush the elder issued an Executive Order that stated that college enlistment would no longer defer one from military service if one was called upon to serve. Before that being in college allowed you to not be shipped to overseas deployments if you were in the reserves. He did that mainly to pull the reserves (which was mostly composed of college students) into Desert Shield. I know. I was one.
-What would you think about an automatic 'war tax', levied any time Congress passed an act of war?
That's a decent start. But I'd rather see us get rid of the standing army and have quasi-local, but nationalized, militias composed of conscripted recruits.
I believe that *every* single U.S. citizen has an obligation to provide this country with two years of service, (either military or social) upon graduating High School.
I think that there should be an element to allow for different types of service, i.e. Peace Corps & AmeriCorps in addition to the Marine Corps. As well as differing terms of service 2 years for active duty, vs. 6 years of reserve, etc.
And as to the language- I hate how many people have come to see citizenship as nothing but rights and little to no obligations.