I Want a Draft

Dear President Obama:

I am a student, and I support the draft. As an eighteen year old male, I remembered only a few days ago my obligation to sign up for the Selective Service, the institution tasked with maintaining the lists and mechanisms in the case of a draft. Pressing the "Submit" button provoked my musings about the potential consequences of reauthorizing this institution. Such an event would require approval by Congress and yourself, an unfortunately unlikely circumstance. Nevertheless, I would support fully an attempt to reinstate it, as Rep. Charles Rangel, a veteran and the Democrat from New York has done twice in the past decade.

First of all, I adamantly oppose a "surge" in Afghanistan, and actually support complete withdrawal. I understand however, the point that my government teacher makes when he says that if you were to announce withdrawal, the United States would not see the end of the recession until President Palin's second term. Since it appears almost (but not completely) politically impossible to withdraw, I request that the United States restart the draft. This would "bring the war home," in a much more constructive (and morally permissible) way than the Weather Underground's bombings in the 1970's.

The history of the draft, given that it is now disbanded, is filled with controversy. The first national draft occurred during the Civil War and provoked riots in NYC in 1863. The draft instituted for WWI led to harsh imprisonments and vigilante attacks on evaders, resisters, and conscientious objectors (CO's). WWII saw the birth of the modern draft mechanism (heralding a more harmonious draft), and the Korean War saw the end of the paternity deferment. In terms of the draft (and, of course, many other things), the Vietnam War was the great cataclysm.

The experience of the police action in Vietnam and the accompanying draft, however, is part of the reason that I support conscription. The Vietnam War was a major player in the generational crisis of the '60s and '70s. This crisis was nevertheless demographically inevitable, given the affluence of the Baby Boomer generation compared to the oppression of blacks, women, and other groups at the time. But in a war of incomparable imbecility, the draft galvanized millions of students to stop talking and begin acting for peace. Their self-interest was at stake which pushed them to eventually take selfless action--witness the Kent State shootings, for example.

Beyond building a student movement for peace, reauthorization of the draft would dampen the aggression of the American electorate. My father, a small business owner, abortion opponent, and staunch Republican, acknowledges that he would not have voted for President Bush a second time had I been liable to be sent to the Middle East to search for weapons of mass destruction. He was however, willing to support President Bush's attempt at nation-building because his upper middle class son had a bright, collegiate future ahead of him. The draft would build not only a student peace movement, but a desire to resolve issues without war in the greater body politic.

This mention of class segues perfectly to my third, final point. In 1968 during the Democratic primary, Senator Robert Kennedy, running on a social justice and antiwar platform, denounced draft evaders and resisters. He said that when a rich boy receives a deferment, a poor boy dies in a Vietnamese foxhole in his stead. While you denounced the idea of two Americas in your campaign, President Obama, you are surely not blind to the reality that the American military is not at all representative of the nation's socioeconomic situation. Our all-volunteer military relies disproportionately on the working and lower classes to secure our freedoms. This is a tragic irony because in the end, it is not the poor who need the military. They do not have real estate that rival nations wish to capture, they do not have positions of authority that rival countries desire to seize, nor do they hold bank accounts that rival states want to empty. The rich profit from the military, yet they do not serve in its ranks.

President Obama, if you decide in the upcoming days to maintain or expand the American occupation of Afghanistan, please tie such an action to reauthorizing the draft. Such a draft of course, would need to avoid the faults of the one from which Dick Cheney and Tom Tancredo received deferments. Sit down and listen to Congressman Rangel's ideas. While we often associate solely the ability to choose with freedom and democracy, the social and racial makeup of the army does not reflect democratic or egalitarian values.

Public Enemy

I try to not make this blog about me, but I couldn't resist when I got "investigated" by a right wing blog called RBO (Real Barack Obama). Check this article out attacking me.

Vietnow

We wallowed in the muck of Vietnam for roughly sixteen years with no real purpose. We shake our heads at the domino theory, at preventing Sino-Soviet encroachment. LBJ passed Medicare but is a villain.

We've been wallowing in the muck of Afghanistan for just over eight years with, at first a purpose, and now, no real purpose. We should be shaking our heads at the Global War on Terror, at preventing another 9/11 by paying off and supporting a corrupt, election-stealing, women's rights-destroying dictator. Obama is near to passing healthcare reform. He could become a villain.

If you want an in-depth look at why we can't follow Gen. McChrystal's plan to ship the equivalent of all of Danville to Afghanistan, I suggest you read Andrew Bacevich, Glenn Greenwald, and Ariana Huffington. Above all things though, beyond the strategic mistakes of fighting a war that's not helping, of stealing butter for guns, and of killing others and being killed, I fear the most that Americans are becoming comfortable.

We have been at war perpetually since the beginning of the Cold War. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iraq are the obvious ones. And that's too many obvious ones in 6o years. But how about the less obvious ones? I'll list some: Lebanon, Dominican Republic, Laos, Cambodia, Grenada, Kosovo, Somalia, and the Sahara (yes, we are fighting a war in the Sahara desert and it's still going on).

And America doesn't care. America doesn't give a damn, most likely because they don't know. Or maybe it's the other way around. Even if I, or you, or Obama told them, they wouldn't give a damn about the rampant intimidation, law-breaking, and killing in which America is engaging. It is called war. It is called America.

Conservative Teabaggers

A NATIONAL ANTI-TAX MOVEMENT!! 

Or really bitter old white people who hate Mexicans, Muslims, and Barack Obama.  This isn't about taxes.  See photos here and here.

Three Cheers for the Founding Fathers and California on President's Day

The State of California has the lowest credit rating of any state.  We have a $42 billion deficit and no budget to ameliorate it.  In fact, we haven't had a budget for four months [Bloomberg.com].  Every Friday, employees of the State go on unpaid leave.  A breakdown in republican democracy?  Hardly.

Sure, none of these things are desirable.  But they do prove the vitality of our democracy.  The deterioration of democratic processes is evidenced not in the budget crisis, but in Congress' acquiescence in the invasion of Iraq, the apparent lack of any desire in Washington to criminally investigate the Bush Administration, and the legions of Obama-fixated citizens content with any and everything Obama is and has been doing.

I'm not at school today because of President's Day, a day for commercial sales, reverence for past Presidents, and for me, doing lots of homework (and sneaking in some blogging).  This tradition concerns me however, because the nature of democracy is that of the rule of law exercised by an elected government, not of the benevolence or good nature of our rulers.  While it's safe to revere dead statesmen (they can't come back and tyrannize us), we must be careful not to give this same reverence to our current politicians, most notably to the Office of the unduly-powerful President of the United States.  No good can come out of faithfully adhering to what public officials tell us we should think.  We can adhere, but only if we've critically examined what they've said and know it's valid.  And even then.  In 2003, the WMDs seemed to be valid.  

Nor should Congress really listen to Obama's pleas that the apocalypse will be upon us if they don't blindly pass the stimulus.  We're in a recession.  Solidly.  And a few days or weeks or a month will not make such a big difference.  The stimulus is not going to bring us out.  Period.  Quote me on it.  Sure it'll help, but the survival of America sure doesn't depend on it.

California's legislative issues are much closer to the precipice and also much more tied up.  For four months they haven't figured out what to do.  Though they are close.  But this is precisely what our Founding Fathers, the men we celebrate today, had in mind.

Why do you think they created "separation of powers" between the three branches of government?  Or the delegation of authority between states and the Federal government?  It surely wasn't to speed things up.  The framers of the Constitution were afraid of the abuses they had just escaped with their Revolution a decade earlier.  So they purposely pitted the government against itself in order to slow it down, make it inefficient, and thus make it harder for the government to become despotic.  

This doesn't mean it can't and won't become despotic.  Witness the Alien and Sedition Acts, slavery, Jim Crow, our domestic Holocaust, Californian eugenics, and torture under Bush.  That's what happens when the American public and press sits on its hands and relies on the well-meaning of our officials.

California's budget problem is not a constitutional crisis.  It's a byproduct of comfortable elected officials (redistricting), a result of the global economic recession, and the legacy of our Founding Fathers.

Obama Watch: Civil Liberties

On May 30, 2007, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of three men against Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.  These three men report having been abducted by the CIA, transported secretly and against their will, and tortured while being interrogated.  This government program is called "extraordinary rendition."  Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. is a (San Jose-based) subsidiary of the large aviation and aeronautics corporation Boeing, Inc. 

"Jeppesen's services have been crucial to the functioning of the government's extraordinary rendition program," said Steven Watt, a staff attorney for the ACLU's Human Rights Program. "Without the participation of companies like Jeppesen, the program could not have gotten off the ground."

In September of 2008, the Bush administration threw the case out of court because of issues of national security.  Like that.  With a snap of the fingers, the government decided Jeppesen could not be legally held responsible for participating in torture.  The ACLU appealed and today, Obama's Department of Justice got to decide what to do about the five plaintiffs (two more were added to the original three).

What happened?

“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.

“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.

Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”

Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

No change.

If you want to read about why it's so heinous that Obama is continuing this state secrets privilege, I suggest you read Glenn Greenwald's recent post or watch the video below.

In his Inaugural Speech, one of Obama's most hailed lines was:

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our ideals are the upholding of liberty for all people.  We signed the United Nations Convention on Torture which includes the following clause:

2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

Appalled, I wrote a missive to the Obama Administration asking why they upheld the Bush position and that I was "heartbroken."  You can too.  I'm not sure if it'll help.  But it's our duty as democratic citizens to say something.  Meanwhile... keep hoping. Hope.  Change.  And we'll keep writing.