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November 20, 2006
I Feel A Draft In Here
So I have some mixed feelings on this. I know it makes the anti-war crowd that's over 35 smugly confident. Rangel introduces the bill and it gets defeated (even though there are some hawks that are shouting for more troops in Iraq, bombing Iran, etc... and we don't currently have the troops for that.) Part of me feels that Rangel is bluffing. He's anti-war and certainly doesn't want escelation. (I've met Charlie before, not that he'd remember me.) But Rangel says he's not bluffing and I know those who want the draft so that Americans feel the sting of this war a bit more.
But America is ALREADY against the war. Not enough against it, this I know. But they're not waiving flags and slapping ribbons on the SUV anymore. This bill will probably include women and have no deferments. Now, that may not survive... but it does have me looking at my roadmap for the quickest way to Canada.
To wit: I understand what Rangel's doing, but maybe I understood it more two years ago, when people were calling the anti-war movement a bunch of traitors and terrorists. Then, a draft wasn't going to pass, but it allowed Rangel to shove the false patriotism of the chickenhawks up their own ass and shout to them, "you think this war is so important? send your own damn kids." Now with the meso-quagmire-civil-war of 2006, a draft may yet go through. If thise hawks really want to win this war, if they actually believe they can... it would need more troops. (Not that I agree with this. It's unwinnable. But they don't see it that way.)
I'm sure Rangel will pull the bill before it completely backfires.
Posted by emily at November 20, 2006 7:30 PM