“...the people that most desire (wars) never seem to fight them...,” LJ’S ginmar says.
I have a suggestion that would take care of that: Let the old men fight.
Throughout history, old men have been sending young men, children really, into battle. Sometimes the cause was just, the mission necessary. Nearly always, however, the cause and mission were the result of greed and hate.
Before we ever send our children to be slaughtered again, I have a modest proposal: For the first time, let us send the old men who vote for war into battle and leave the children at home.
We could start by passing a law requiring every government official who votes for war into the front lines. That's everyone -- from the president to freshmen congressmen, along with the White House aides, those unelected government officials who so often control our destiny.
Next we could reinstate the draft but change the age limits. No longer would we draft children. Instead, the draft age would begin at 30. The upper limit can be 70 or 80 – after all, it doesn't take a great deal of physical strength to drive a jeep or a tank.
We would need special elections to replace the officials marching off to war. A real boon.
Under the pressure of wartime deadlines, the government could throw the election open to everyone and finance the campaigns. That way, we could get rid of the institution of legalized bribery, the Political Action Committees, or PACs.
It's possible, of course, that once these proposals are implemented, they might never have to be put into practice. "Depend on it, sir," Samuel Johnson said, "when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Perhaps if our leaders were faced with the prospect of doing their own killing and dying, we might get that same wonderful concentration – and a decision that the war wasn’t worth it.
Not when their asses are on the line.
Posted by Deck at November 11, 2006 10:39 AM