There’s an old Alice Cooper song – ”I’m 18.” The lyrics go something like this:
I got a Baby’s brain and an old man’s heart
Took eighteen years to get this far
Don’t always know what I’m talkin’ about
Feels like I’m livin’ in the middle of doubt
That was a little before my time – recorded when there was still a draft and politicians told us we were fighting the domino effect of communism. I was introduced to this song via Anthrax’s cover version. Well, I remember when I was 18, I had to go to the post office and fill out a form that I dropped off in the mail. So far as I know, my sister didn’t have the same “privilege” when she turned 18. My mom said not to worry, that this was merely a bureaucratic technicality. I could thank the hippies who protested in the streets against the Vietnam War. There was no longer a draft.
Imagine the plight of less fortunate young men before me. They were coerced into military service under the guise of “patriotism.” Many times, they were too young to legally buy alcohol. They were often too young to vote for the politicians who were sending them off to war. During basic training, they might endure humiliation. On long deployments, they could fall ill with dysentery and malaria. In combat they could be maimed for life or killed. They might witness others brutally die and they might have to live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that they had killed another human being. There are those who say that to live by the sword is to die by the sword. But they fail to see that these men did not choose their fate. To resist was to be marked a coward, a criminal, a traitor…
Should a man decide not to register with Selective Services, there are consequences. While steep fines and prison time are rarely doled out, a man may find he is unable to get Federal Aid for college, and he may also find that he is unable to get a federal job or attain U.S. citizenship if he began residence before turning 26 years of age. From the Selective Service Website:
Selective Service wants young men to register. It does not want them to be prosecuted or denied benefits. If a draft is ever needed, it must be as fair as possible, and that fairness depends on having as many eligible men as possible registered. In the event of a draft, for every man who fails to register, another man would be required to take his place in service to his country.
The draft ended in the latter years of the Vietnam War. After March 29, 1975, men were no longer required to register for the Selective Service. President Carter reversed this and re-introduced Selective Service Registration. Despite campaign promises, Reagan never reversed this and it still remains in effect to this day. Women have never had to register with Selective Service. During World War II, it was thought that there would be a need for conscripted nurses, but enough women volunteered.
In 1992, a Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces reexamined the issue of registration and conscription of women. In its November 1992 report, by a vote of 11 to 3, the Commission recommended that women not be required to register for or be subject to conscription. The Commission cited the 1981 Supreme Court decision in Rostker v. Goldberg upholding the exclusion of women from registration as the basis for its recommendation. The Commission also discussed enacting existing ground combat specialties exclusion policies into law to provide an additional barrier to the amendment of the MSSA to provide for the conscription of women. However, an appendix to its report suggested that public opinion was divided on the issue. The appendix, which included the results of a random telephone survey of 1,500 adults, showed that, in the event of a draft for a national emergency or threat of war (and assuming an ample pool of young men exists), 52 percent of respondents indicated women should be drafted, about 39 percent of respondents indicated women should not be drafted, and 10 percent responded they did not know.
With the outsourcing of military services to highly paid mercenaries who aren’t bound by the Geneva Conventions (the PC term is “contractors”), some say the draft isn’t coming back. Then why is there still a Selective Service?
Actually, the Selective Service is always getting ready for a draft. Its website boasts that the agency trains “over 11,000 volunteers… so that if a draft is reinstated, they will be able to fulfill their obligations fairly and equitably.” President Bush assured Americans after 9/11 that there is “not a chance” of bringing back conscription. Yet two bills have been introduced in Congress that would reinstate the draft, apply it to women as well as men, and allow no deferments for college students.
Really, I don’t think anyone interested in justice or gender equality would support Selective Service for one gender but not another. I don’t support it either way. End selective service now!
Rock On!
Stoner With a Boner
Stoner With a Boner writes at his blog.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
“I could thank the hippies who protested in the streets against the Vietnam War. There was no longer a draft.”
Actually, you can thank Milton Friedman that there’s no longer a draft.
From a furriner who’s way past the age of Selective Service: is it just me that finds the language on their pamphlet mildly patronizing (“Men 18-26, you can handle this, etc. blah). Seems to have a somewhat similar flavor to the way the opponents of MRM dismiss men’s claims. You can handle this, you’re men, don’t whine, etc. Oh well. Maybe I’ve been sensitized by feminists’ bitching about what they perceive as patronizing language.
And with the risk of sounding extreme: women fought for their voting rights, never for the obligation to be drafted. As an exception, there was a woman in Congress who was the only vote against the war in 1941–for the ethical reason that she knew she would never be drafted.
I’ve always used this as one of my primary arguments with feminists and the ‘women’s studies’ crowd; if gender equality was ever the paramount goal of feminism, NOW would’ve organized mass marches on Washington demanding no male be conscripted into the military until an equal number of women had been drafted and killed in action in restitution for the past century of warfare.
yup. gender parity only when convenient
I wouldn’t mind a selective service system if we were to actually fight a war that was worth fighting. Until then…?
I’ve really got a bone to pick with those 60′s hippies who were draft dodgers. They collect all the benefits of being American, with none of the obligations. When things are good, they want to go do their own thing. When things go south, they run for cover.
There’s blame on both sides. One, for a government that is so disconnected from the people that they need to be compelled to defend the homeland. Two is the utter selfishness of the 1960′s liberal.
I would gladly to fight to support my country if it support me. WHen it does not, and it’s a one way relationship, there a problem.
I think the selective service is still necessary, but it’s not right. These forever wars to protect Israel, to get oil and to make money will continue and expand. There will be a great need for warm bodies, even as the standards for the average recruit fall.
if we could bring it back i would support a new-roman system. you can only hold political office if you’ve been in the army for a decade or longer. also, you can only enjoy citizenship if you’re willing to fight.
For a young white male in BRA, there is no downside to not registering- you will not get a federal ( or state or local govt) job because you are not non-white, or female or jewish, you won’t get a scholarship/financial aid enough to pay for a decent college for the same reason (not that a college education is in any way going to get you a job because, again, you are not non-white, female, jewish). Find a service you can provide, product you can produce or purchase cheap and retail, or learn a trade, and just work for yourself. Escape the chains of wage/tax slavery, charge your customers cash, use money orders/cash for everything, keep your savings in silver/gold/guns/ammo : which are all things going up in value relative to the dollar/euro/yen name the worthless fiat paper “currency”.
The defensive feminist-aping of MRAs rears its ugly head again.
You think you want gender equality, but that’s actually foolish.
You want gender parity.
You want women to have some sacred roles, and men to have others.
One such role is defending the land.
To me, this is a non-issue. Demanding “moar equality” will not solve the problem of men in modern society.
Amen Brett Stevens, it was a victory for men everywhere as well as the military that the move to integrate women into the infantry was turned down. Men can still be men in the infantry.
@ Brett Stevens
Okay, most will agree that military combat is a duty for men. Men and women are different, there’s no question about it, so a push for identical roles in society doesn’t make sense. But women have the option to join the military in all kinds of capacities. Children are also an option, not an obligation. Women/feminists have always claimed they want equality, not parity in rights and duties. If men must sign up for selective service, and would be drafted if there was ever a need, what could be the equivalent duty/duties for women? Maybe at least register their ovaries :D ?
“I’ve really got a bone to pick with those 60′s hippies who were draft dodgers. They collect all the benefits of being American, with none of the obligations. When things are good, they want to go do their own thing. When things go south, they run for cover.
There’s blame on both sides. One, for a government that is so disconnected from the people that they need to be compelled to defend the homeland. Two is the utter selfishness of the 1960′s liberal. : -Ryu
Plenty of CONservatives got out of service through college or other rich white guy ploys. Dick Cheney most prominent among them. He even went onto become Secretary of Defense which is just sickening. At least the hippies were principled.
I don’t like telling anyone, including a government, how old I am. The next thing you know some babe gets that information.
The simple fact women have not the abilities to combat in an efficient way is proof they do not deserve equality. And this does not mean the capability to shoot a rifile, but anything in broader sense: operating complicated machinery, having a tactical or strategical mind, obeying orders without whining, getting the responsability of their platoon etc. No one in combat would put his life in the hands of a woman.
Aside this, I agree with everyone thinks today states do not deserve the kind of loyalty pushing a man to kill other men for imposed motives. Western states.
If women would be drafted, just like men, agressive warfare would be significantly less than now, because women would start to vote against it.
Compare it with bullfighting in Spain: many people speak against it, but it cannot be abolished, because there is not enough sympathy with the suffering of the bulls, to make the torture stop.
But let’s make a new rule: from now on, the fighting (entertainment-torture) will be with cows, instead of with bulls.
And… oohhh… what a surprise…. suddenly it will be abolished….
I wonder why is that?
So the reason why bullfighting still exists, is because ONLY bulls are forced to fight, and for bulls, there is not much sympathy.
Ant the reason why so many wars are fought, is because ONLY men are forced to fight, and for men, there is not much sympathy.
Dear certain commenters, can we stop with the bromides about being willing to serve to defend the country? The government doesn’t use the military to defend the country, it uses it to defend its own interests, and it doesn’t care about how many American lives are used to further esoteric foreign policy ends. Just like it is easier for them to spend other people’s money, it is easier for them to cause other people to die. Or do people still accept the fairy tale that it was imperative to send men to die to interfere in Vietnam’s civil war – because if Vietnam fell to the commies (which it did anyway), we’d all be speaking Russian.
The elite will take advantage of the short-sighted and pants-pissing attitude of the masses to expand government control whenever possible. Hence the Patriot Act after 9/11. There are elements chomping at the bit to bring back military slavery, all they need is another ‘tragedy’. You are dealing with sociopaths, they are not your comrades in arms, so put away the GI Joe flag-waving and stop equating defending the country (a noble ideal) with being a pawn of the government.
Good article and spot on.
@ bruno
Funny as it sounds, it’s probably true.
@ Frank Stein
Sadly true, and opens up a whole other subject.
Whenever a woman bitches about the plight of females in the past, just remember this.
In every civilization, at any time in history, the average man has ALWAYS had it worse than the average woman.
The top 1% of men were first class citizens.
100% of women were second class citizens.
99% of men were third class citizens.
Men were forced to build the king’s monuments. Men were forced to go to war. Men were expected to give up their lives so that women and children could survive.
VI said:
The top 1% of men were first class citizens.
100% of women were second class citizens.
99% of men were third class citizens.
THIS IS 99.99% OF HUMAN HISTORY IN 23 WORDS!!!!
Don’t believe me? Read The Woman Racket by Steve Moxon.
America has taken away mens freedom with the selective service Act
{ 3 trackbacks }