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S.A.R.S. Simply Another
Ridiculous Scam
CLOSE THE DOOR ON THE DRAFT
By Mary Starrett
August 4, 2004
NewsWithViews.com
While most Americans are busy watching the changing hue of Tom's Color Coded Mental Anguish Meter few have noted that there's a draft blowing our way. While checkpoints are being set up (never more to be dismantled) in major cities on the east coast, a return to conscription looms ever closer.
The issue of a draft is being downplayed until after the election. Both major candidates as well as D's and R's of every stripe see the return of the draft as a good thing. Bills sit at the ready in both the House (HR163) and the Senate(S 89). But this is not your father's draft my friends, this new and improved version makes a specific mention that WOMEN are to be included. The House bill states: "Amends the military Selective Service Act to authorize the military recruitment of females".
I am not making this up.
But wait, there's a whole lot more. What's called the Universal National Service Act of 2003 sits waiting ever so patiently until after the November election to quietly become the law of the land whereby ALL young Americans, upon turning 18, will be REQUIRED to serve for 2 years or 4,000 hours in military or civilian service.
The legislation that sounds benign has the 'working' or 'short' title of "Reinstate Draft Bill". It will be, after all, easier to push it through Congress if everybody thinks "Universal National Service Act" means kids who turn 18 will be asked to man a food bank a few hours a month or deliver hot meals to seniors once in awhile. "What's wrong with that?" many would ask .Well, for starters, it eviscerates the 13th Amendment that guarantees "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime� shall exist within the United States." The Founders, once again saw to it that their new country would be a place people fled to- not from the likes of totalitarian dictators like Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Those despots had their own "Universal National Service Act" to mold the thoughts of the young and build their own labor forces.
King George W. hasn't had a problem stomping the life out of the other amendments, so this is not an aberration by any means. Reminds me of the NBA player who said, during an interview about a high-scoring team mate, " He just did what he do"�.
Bush started priming the "national service" pump years ago during his State of the Union Address of 2002 when he said " I ask all Americans to dedicate 2 years of their lives...to the service of our country." Remember that? I got chills, how about you? Bush encouraged people to become volunteers to "fight evil by doing good." There's nothing wrong with volunteering- unless of course you're forced to "volunteer".
Constitution- minded Representative Ron Paul said "politicians simply love the thought of mandatory service to the state. To them American government is America. Patriotism means working for the benefit of the state. On a crude level the draft appeals to patriotic fervor�.Conscription is wrongly associated with patriotism, when it really represents collectivism and involuntary servitude"[1]
Ronald Reagan said: " The most fundamental objection to draft registration is moral." In other words, conscription assumes our young people belong to the state. A state that is increasingly blood-thirsty.
Additionally, no one would be exempt. Conscientious Objectors wouldn't have an out this go-round; they would be pressed into service, as the law states "in furtherance of homeland security AND OTHER PURPOSES" (italics mine). Just what nebulous "other purposes"?
One can only imagine. Add to this the wide berth given to the president (whoever he/she may be after this law takes effect) to conscript as many young people as he/she wanted!
No Child Left Un-Recruited
I've written before about the wholly sinister "No Child Left Behind" Education Act that President George W. Bush was able to sell with such ease. Buried in the almost 700 page act is a provision for not only providing military recruiters access to high schools but also to contact info for each student. Schools that balk face a cutoff of federal funds. Some argue that the current global climate necessitates U.S. commitments world-wide.
The present carnage in Iraq as well as virtually every "conflict" in the last few decades doesn't pass the Constitutional smell test for going to war - to defend our nation. That's becoming painfully more apparent. Neither does our overreaching presence in Haiti, Somalia or Bosnia have anything to do with American national security.
Film maker Michael Moore hit a home run when he dogged members of Congress and asked them if they'd sign their kids up for a tour of duty in Iraq. With the exception of ONE elected representative (he declined to say who) none has a child serving in active duty in Iraq. Hmmm.
During America's first war (against Great Britain) President Madison tried to introduce a draft. Daniel Webster responded with an impassioned plea against conscription in the House of Representatives on December 9, 1814.
Webster said: "�The Government is entitled to the aid of the militia of the States... "to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or execute the laws."(This while our southern border leaks a steady stream of invaders we PAY to be here!)
Webster continued: "The question is nothing less than whether the most essential rights of personal liberty shall be surrendered, and despotism embraced in its worst form." The United States has relied on a volunteer military for most of its history. The "shortage" of troops we're hearing about now should be looked at as a natural consequence of an out of control foreign policy, not as proof we need another draft.
The draft is slavery. It is worse than slavery. Forcing a man or woman to work your fields is bad enough, forcing them to kill and die is another. While Iraq becomes an increasingly bloody and bottomless pit, your elected representatives are crying " More, More!" Forced conscription will make your sons and daughters chattel of a government that feels it has a right to your children's very lives to advance a global agenda.
Columnist Doug Bandow writes: "The highest form of service is rendered by those who serve voluntarily, not those who are forced, under pain of imprisonment to fill out a Selective Service card"[2]
Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators. Tell them you'll be watching very closely. Tell them you will be gathering like-minded constituents to visit them (and then do it!) Tell them this is a non-negotiable point. Your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews are not theirs for the taking. Do it now. After November it will be too late.
Footnotes:
[1]Texas
Straight Talk/ Ron Paul, 2003
[2]
Cato Institute/ Quoted by Aaron Steelman, 1997
� 2004 Mary Starrett - All Rights Reserved
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Mary Starrett was on television for 21 years as a news anchor, morning talk show host and medical reporter. For the last 5 years she hosted a radio program. Mary is a frequent guest on radio talk shows. E-Mail M123STAR@aol.com�
Film maker Michael Moore hit a home run when he dogged members of Congress and asked them if they'd sign their kids up for a tour of duty in Iraq.
