Talk Of A Draft

It seems one of the Democrats uttered the "D" word. Draft.

And why not. Someone has to utter the word. At one point, nobody thought that Vietnam would require a draft. Washington just stomped in, figuring that the USA could do what France could not. Vietnam was a French territory at the time. You know, can't let those commies get more land! And the French suck! We can do what they can't!

Except for the little problem of loosing the Vietnam War. The commies took over anyway. And now it is the fastest growing economy in Asia. If not a single American died in that jungle, everything would be the same today. And maybe we can't do whatever the French also can't do.

More to the point a BIG selling feature to the public, other than the lie about weapons of mass destruction, an active nuclear program, and Iraq being 45 minutes from launching an attack against the USA, was that the all volunteer military could do the job. No way there would ever be a draft! All that talk was just anti-war pro-terrorists trying to scare people! Now lets get back to those nukes that Iraq is fitting onto ICBMs right at this instant!

So it was easier to sell to the public. We the public were going to be safe from phantom weapons, and someone else's kid was going to fight. Win win situation!

But would the public have supported the war if there was a draft bill attached to it? Would there have been REAL debate about the merits of going to war? Would the public have demanded more information from the White House? And now that the reasons have changed from "we are all going to die" to "spreading democracy" to "OK maybe no democracy, but.....OK OK so it is possible it will be an Islamic Theocracy" - it is possible that the public would want to know what the hell is up with that? And by "the public" I mean 90% or more of the population. Not some wimpy 40%.

People seem to not give a crap about anything, unless it directly involves them. Case and point - stem cell research. A lot of people are opposed to it. But what would the people opposed to the research say if someone they loved was stricken with a disease or injury that could be cured or repaired using methods obtained from stem cell research? Would they choose to let their child, wife, husband, mother, father, sister, brother , or them self die? Would they choose a life in a wheelchair with no use of any limbs for that person? Or would they gladly accept the stem cell research derived cure?

My money is that they would accept the cure. Then once everything was OK again, go right back to advocating for a ban on any more research. That seems to be the new American Way.

If the Democrats want to end the occupation right now - it would be easy to do so. Make the war supporters put their money where their mouth is. Propose to either bring the troops home, OR have a tax hike to pay for 100% of the costs. No more running up debt. Pay for it all right now in cash. Lets start with a special "war tax" of 10% on the richest 2% of Americans. If that does not cover it, bump it up a few notches. After all, it IS important right? Our national interest and security is at stake right? Halliburton and the other companies profiting from this mess deserve all that money they are getting right? So why not pay for it now?

And had there been a war tax proposed when this whole mess was to start, would the Republican run Congress been so quick to rush into the war? If it was going to cost them and the people that they represent (the upper 2% - 5% income bracket) real money? Would the middle class who by a HUGE margin supported the war but are now starting to have second thoughts supported the war if it was going to cost them an extra 5% or more (just to pull a number out of the air) on top of the taxes they already pay?

But now it is too late. Even Henry Kissinger said recently that a "military victory" as defined by Bush is not possible. But does that mean we can just leave? Well not exactly. Leaving now would just make things worse. But staying and sticking with the current policy is not going to work either. So what do we do?

I do not know. I am not an expert on such things. Really, there is no good solution. Staying will just cause more people to die, and leaving will allow a full on civil war to happen, along with a radical government taking power (think Iran in the 80s here). Either way, the people of Iraq are bound to just love the USA. What did we do to them anyway? They would have no reason to hate America just because we created the conditions that they live under today. Bush said that everything is OK over there! So it must be true.

All I know is that when going into Iraq was just a policy that the President was pushing hard for I thought it was going to be a mistake. I did not see why the French or Canadian proposal was such a bad idea. All these two nations said was "lets wait a bit on this war thing, as our evidence is not the same as yours. We will put Iraq on an even tighter leash and send in more inspectors. If there is ANY evidence of a WMD program uncovered, then we can act". But no. This was no good. Probably because Bush knew that nothing would be found because nothing was there. And that would have ruined his grand plan.

So yea, why not use the "D" word. Next war, the "D" word might make the public demand that Congress do its job and have real debates. Make the war hawks prove beyond any doubt that there is a real threat. And not like they "proved" it last time. When you know that a vote for war means your 18 - 25 year old son could very well be called up if things do not go exactly as planned, you might pay a little more attention to the matter. And no loopholes for the "D" word! No sneaking out of the deal by joining the Guard. Only active duty people would have the option of going into the Guard - AFTER combat. College deferment? Sorry, we are all out of those. If your number gets pulled you go. Money, connections, acceptance to Harvard - sorry but National Security is more important. Lets see who wants to rush into a war then.

And next war also needs to have a war tax provision to cover ALL costs involved. Modify the tax rates by adjusting up or down monthly if needed. Leave NO COST to add to debt. Pay for the whole thing in cash. That might make people pay more attention as well. And no loopholes either! Everyone pays something. The more you make, the higher your tax percentage is - IN ADDITION to whatever normal taxes you pay. Corporations too. Everyone and everything shall be taxed. Leave no tax source untaxed! Freedom is not free right?

Then lets see who wants to just rush off into a war all willy-nilly.