Topic: National Security
Mandatory Military service and the effects it would have on society If the United States of America passed a bill requiring mandatory military service to all people upon leaving high school, what would be the effects on our society?by P Hedt
(libertarian)
Monday, December 15, 2008
It would raise patriotism and educational standards. It would make citizens take a higher interest in world affairs and politics. It would make society in general stronger, both physically and mentally, and it would make our government officials less trigger-happy. Foreign countries would be less likely to attack America and it would become impossible to take our great country over. Our society would be completely reformed back into a strong nation again.
Upon leaving high school men and women are required, by law, to join the military for at least two years. There is no choice in the matter; if they don't go they get the same rights as a felon. Yes, when a person goes into the military they lose certain rights for a little while, but is that necessarily bad? No. If they have never had their basic rights taken from them they will never place as high a value on those rights, or on the sacrifice their ancestors made to give them those rights. It is a growing problem in America for people to take their rights for granted. Take peoples rights away temporarily and people start to value what they have more; and they start to value their country more. Patriotism will be on the rise.
The men and women that leave high school will have to get an assessment test on their knowledge and intelligence levels. Naturally, they studied hard in school so that they could place high and choose what job they would have; so they could choose where they would be on the battlefield. Of Course, they (and their parents) would take school more seriously they do now, their futures would depend on it. These days a high school diploma is just a pretty decoration you get after twelve years of being babysat. People would become more serious about how their children were taught. How much money and supplies would schools receive in order to teach their children? A lot more then they do now. How much respect would teachers finally receive? A lot more then they do now. Hoe many children would get lost in the shuffle educationally? A lot less then they do now.
After selecting or being placed into a field, the people would go to basic training. This would install discipline, physical fitness, pride, and self-esteem. It would teach them that they could achieve anything they set their minds to. How many people in America could use those traits? Our society would shed the flabby Athenian traits and become a well oiled Spartan machine. How many Americans could have benefited from those four traits when they were first starting out in life? How far would America be today if we were all physically and mentally fit when we first started out?
After going through basic training, they would be required to serve at least two years in the armed forces. In that amount of time, they get to travel the world, learning about other cultures and world events. They gain a wealth of knowledge from their travels. They learn that the rest o the world does not have it as good as we do, and to not take our great nation for granted. They carry this knowledge about world events and cultures with them to teach their children, making the world less America centric to Americans.
Because people would be required to become physically fit, (in order to survive in the military) obesity levels in America would drop causing medical problems associated with it to drop. In addition Americans would be near impossible to surprise because they would all be knowledgeable of combat techniques. No one would dare attempt an invasion, because every man women and child would know how to defend themselves.
The presidents children are in the military; congresses children are in the military. How fast would they be to go to war with the knowledge that their children would be deployed? Not as fast as they were willing to in the past. The government would defiantly become more willing to look at other options before leaping headfirst into a major conflict. There would be more protests from congress if the president went crazy and decided to charge into a foreign country.
The effects of making military service mandatory are numerously good. A chain reaction would take place and American society would reform itself. We would become less ignorant of the world around us. Fewer people would burn flags and take America for granted. American government would be less likely to jump into a war. The children would not be lost educationally and schools would receive better funding. Obesity levels would drop dramatically, reducing health problems associated with unhealthy lifestyle. America would become stronger, mentally and physically due to a chain of events created by making military service mandatory.
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I took three days of military jail during my military service in France in the early 90s for taking a 72-hour leave during an election and not bringing back the proof that I had voted.
From there, I moved from being a radical free-market conservative to Libertarian. A few years later, I became an anarchist.
I have also left France and, ever since, I am doing my best to collect citizenships and passports for my kids so that they have a better chance to avoid the military slavery. Obviously, the American citizenship is not a prime target!
Government is crime and it is always good to know that those who want to kill human beings legally can always join the Army.
That is complete non-sense. You want our kids that are being subjected to 12 years of government indoctrination to be submittet to 2 more years of slavery, servitude and brainwashing? Forced military service is the state ownership of its citizens. Slavery is supposed to be abolished by the Constitution. Forced military service is slavery.
With regards to the children of those in Congress, most of them are already grown up. Those children who will be serving will be placed in specific non-life-threatening positions in the military with no real risk and given a preferential treatment. The children of most Congressmen will NEVER go to war.
Trigger happy? The Government will always be trigger happy. The World Wars and the Vietnam War happend under forced military service and all Governments were trigger happy nevertheless.
Patritism is not necessary a good thing. Patriotism could bea disease.
If you want your children to go to the military, it should be THEIR choice. Not your choice, not my choice and most certainly not the Government's choice.
As bad as the U.S. is, I feel that it is the least bad with regards to freedom. Maybe I am naive in thinking that way but I feel there are still some freedoms left here to enjoy while they last. What other places you had in mind? Please give us suggestions.
As far as I know the only place with real anarchy is Antartica - but who wants to live there? Also the other place right now is Somalia but the state of anarchy has been replaced by the tyranical rule of warlords.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2008-12-15 07:24:38
Hi P Hedt,
Your idea sounds like a great plan to provide incentives for the best and brightest along with those who champion individual liberty to leave the USA to its Spartan death-training camps.
Why not put high school grads in leg irons and make them clean up the trash along the road or build roads through primitive back-country? I mean, if you consider humans to be the property of the state, why waste them on things like making it less likely for foreign countries to attack the USA? In case you've been asleep for the past 70 years, that really isn't a big problem for us. Why use all that government owned manpower for unproductive purposes? The slaves to the state should at least be used to "do work that Americans will not do" displacing the illegal immigrants in the produce fields. Maybe a shackled group could even be loaned by the US Military to private corporations to flip burgers or collect shopping carts from parking lots. Not a saggy pants among them. American shoppers and burger munchers would be so proud.
I think you are being very short-sighted. Once you decide that individuals belong to the state, using them for military service is a pretty lame primary purpose. Think big man, you're talking about enslaving every young person in America. Don't limit your vision to the military, THINK BIG!!
Posted By: Mrs. Fire Eater
Date: 2008-12-15 07:42:36
This is a Libertarian? No wonder I'm a Republican. I mean, this was downright confusing until I read the fire eater comment and now I know this is just a very tiny thinker. Thanks, JFE!
I'd like to use my rented gov't whore for... hm... takin' out the trash. I hate that job. And doing the laundry, and... well, that's it. I guess I'm a pretty tiny thinker, too.
trd, I have no other suggestion. Right now I am in Canada. My kids are safer there than in the US since there is no tradition of draft, or military service. Well, that may well change. I lived 8 years in the USA and I don't think there is more freedom in the USA. The idea that the President of the USA is the "leader of the free world" is pure military propaganda.
When reading the article, I thought the writer was ironic. But, I am realizing he might not be and he may actually believe his words. Maybe P Hedt could clarify this point.
If he really believes in his words, let's hope he will have the decency to volunteer before having his kids killed for government crooks. Also, I would hope his kids will precede the kids of those of oppose military service.
I didn't said that US has more freedoms. I said that I think is the least bad on freedom restrictions. If Canada works for you, then good. It is all about choices. But I didn't know that Canada was planing to do a military draft since you were stating that it may change the tradition of no draft.
Now with regards to military alone, then the only country with no military force other than thier local police is Costa Rica. They have no draft and no voluntary military either. But in the event of a foreign invasion, I am pretty sure they will use their local police. So the same people that will give you speeding tickets will be those who will defend their nation against invasion. It seemed like a nice place that at least appeared to be free, but I have only been there for one day about 15 years ago so I really can't do a good comparison. On the other countries that I have been (about 20) I think U.S. is still the least bad.
Entrepreneurs in the online Sports booking or betting industries have moved there becaue of ther lack of regulation. So maybe Costa Rica is more free than US or Canada, but there is no way to know until we actually live there.
For now my first choice is still the U.S. but I could consider Costa Rica in the near future.
We may think the grass is greener on the other side but ¿how do we know for sure? We may move to greener pastures only to realize that it may even be worst. Then you ads all the respective government immigration laws that makes it difficult to really move to your place of choice. So most people are stuck where they are born as if they had a contract enslaved with the birth state without even agreeing to such contract.
If you fear a military draft in Canada, maybe your kids could start learning Spanish and move to sunny tropical Costa Rica!
Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel proposes 3 months of mandatory service for everyone between the ages of 18 and 25. Charles Rangel has written legislation for 2 years of mandatory service for everyone between the ages of 18 and 41. In both cases the service could be community service as well as military.
So now I have to ask; what is the difference between mandatory service and involuntary servitude? Let me answer my own question; there is no difference. Mandatory service is involuntary servitude.
The 13th amendment banned slavery and involuntary servitude. That was a very good thing and because of it Obama can be the president of the United States instead of a cotton picker on a Georgia plantation. How ironic it would be if he passed a law which in effect overturned that amendment.
Great article. Now to the part where they don't want to go because they don't want to shoot a gun.. For those we should have civil service. Same difference, no weapons. Working instead inside a combat related field, they could work in the VA Hospital, care for the elderly, work in child care centers etc.. Just a thought. I am from Germany, we have mandatory service.
Posted By: Andrew Hughes
Date: 2009-01-21 03:11:42
Mr Hedt,
While I agree that physical fitness and mental discipline are very desirable qualities which can be achieved without a military training, the only real consequence of a draft would involve killing more poor, brown people in Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe soon, Iran and Pakistan. After the pain and mental anuish, the destruction of American families, the maltreatment of veterans who have been shipped back to "The World" after witnessing horrors beyond our imaginations, all we are left with is another lost generation akin to that during the Vietnam era. Would it not be more productive and humane to bring forth a new generation of educated men and women by reforming the way they are taught in school ?
I have seen young men and women in Minnesota that had passed through the farce that passes for "education" and I found their brainwashed minds incapable of independent thinking and a woeful lack of knowledge about the world outside of the U.S..When I asked them what they were going to do after high school, the majority told me that they wanted to join the military and protect their country. A patriotic thought, but sadly ignorant of the fact that America does not need their protection. It's the rest of the world that needs protection from them.
We constantly are willing to sacrifice our liberties and freedoms for the sake of security. Manditory Millitary Service is the same concept and would lead to a total loss of liberty. We would be virtually undefeatable but have virtually no freedom. I say (and I know its over quoted) 'give me liberty or give me death"
This is bizzarre! I'm 18 and just about to graduate from high school. The idea of mandatory service is not even close to freedom, it goes against everything this country stands for. Put yourself in my shoes, nobody forced you into the military, you got your choice, your freedom, don't claim to be doing your country a favor by standing in the way of mine.
-kutlessgirl01 (A.K.A. the very person your tring to imprison)
Please, remember what Spartan life was like and how Sparta collapsed. Their system was not humane or sustainable. The role and purpose of people in military service takes taxes, it is not to generate/create money/wealth to sustain the economy. This will likely lead to more than just manipulating statistics (i.e. change unemployment rates). It seems much like the communist/socialist/totalitarian state plans that have destroyed so many nations before.
The only real hope is returning to our (American up until the 20th Century) roots in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and following His command to love God with everything that is in us and our neighbor as ourselves. Christ is the only foundation upon which free society can exist. If you have not read the Bible, please, take time to read it. If you want help in understanding it, listening to Paul Washer or John Piper at www.sermonaudio.com could be useful.
If you desire liberty, seek Christ. We are all slaves of sin until we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only hope apart from Him is the Lake of Fire, which is undesirable, or some temporal carnal pleasure, which also leads to the wrath of God in Hell. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Repent and believe in the Christ Who was sent to redeem His people (i.e. His bride). He spared no expense, He gave everything. Oh, to know the love of the Lord. The peace and joy from Him are too wonderful to be able to fully describe.
If you believe already and are not growing in the knowledge of the Truth (God's Word), read, pray and fellowship with a local assembly of believers where God's Word is central (not just another reference book or footnote). If you do not see the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance) in your life and you are thereby not living the Gospel before others, call upon the Lord for aid and seek His kingdom first. If we do not preach the Gospel of our Lord crucified, dead, buried and raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, then we are asking for freedom to be taken away. Remember, until born again, people are still sinful by nature and only feel comfortable in sin. The preaching of the Gospel and the quickening of the Spirit of God's people is the way God tells us that the dead (in spirit) are brought to life and given a new nature (heart) that delights in pleasing Him. What a blessing for Him to have given us such a wonderous part of His ministry of grace. Teaching and preaching repentence, unto salvation, is something that cannot be done once we die and are in Heaven. Praise Him evermore!!!
You have to wonder though, wouldnt some of the things Hedt says happen? like our country would be in better shape and more considerate of what we get involved in. Iraq and Afghanistan probably wouldnt have happened if Bush had to have sent his own daughters to the Middle East. Its all a matter of balance. Mandatory military service is everywhere. South Korea has it, Germany has it, why dont we have it?
(Im a senior in an AP government class so please correct me if my view is flawed)
Posted By: Donald Meinshausen
Date: 2009-11-08 18:39:32
The libertarian's dramatic beginning was a draft card burning according to Radical's for Capitalism. I organized this event to show that we are not slaves of the state. If there is ever a draft again then I would organize a revolution. Do not call yourself a libertarian. You are a fascist and I ask that every libertarian spit in your face unless you are joking.
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