Conscription with a CHOICE: non-violent or armed service. Acceptable?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

Poll question: Conscription with a CHOICE: non-violent or armed service. Acceptable?

EVERY CITIZEN MUST SERVE THIS NATION!

Conscription does NOT, never has had to demand "armed" service.

Conscription could and CAN mean serving others in an UNARMED compassionate way.

Yes?

[liberal N proud]

1. No because the rich assholes will never have to serve

They will buy their way out no matter how foolproof the system.

Get bu$h's daughters in uniform then we can talk.

[Donnachaidh]

3. get ROMNEY'S boys into uniform and in a unit under fire

and then we'll talk.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

7. NO exceptions. NO DOUBT they'd choose something other than militia service. nt

[Donnachaidh]

2. Definition of Conscript

from dictionary.com --

–verb (used with object)
1. to draft for military or naval service.
2. to compel into service.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. OR could be,...compelling to serve the whole rather than oneself.

Conscription HAS BEEN USED in ways it never HAD TO BE UTILIZED.

True?

I am thinking: if this nation (via it's representatives) spout compassion and advancing democracy and enabling opportunity to ALL, why not conscript EVERY CITIZEN for a fraction of their lives into investing in those perspectives and ideals?

WHY NOT?

:shrug:

Am I proposing something so preposterously authentic that others are incapable of comprehending it?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

13. I edited out the "rofl" because,...I really REALLY don't want to be an ass about this topic.

However, if we are honestly a people who advocates civil and social equality, why wouldn't conscription to service towards those perspective be bad or wrong?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

4. This is my first poll so, please forgive me if I edit some.

Meanwhile, I'll give my fresh thoughts on conscription.

I believe service is A GOOD THING and that there are way WAY too many who fail to serve this nation.
I believe no one gains a perspective WITHOUT experience outside their box.
I believe our people gain strength when they reach out to one another.

I SERIOUSLY believe that, if given a choice, the VAST MAJORITY of American citizens would choose "civil" service over ARMED service.

Moreover, imagine attaching benefits to those who choose to serve and the worst repercussion to those who fail to serve an AWOL certificate?

:shrug:

[Warpy]

5. because Lincoln freed us all

and because I don't ever want a madman to have unlimited access to our children. Ever. Any circumstances.

There are so many good reasons we finally got rid of the draft. A standing peacetime army is just too big a temptation for the Pentagon. Their intelligence offices lied us into Vietnam and their intelligence offices lied us into Iraq. At least with Iraq, there is a limit to the damage they can do because young people are refusing to enlist while that horrible war is going on.

No draft, not ever.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. EVEN IF the choice between non-violent and armed service is ABSOLUTE, without exemptions?

:shrug:

There seems to be a sensitivity I am failing to breach.

The poll is about EVERYONE serving their nation with an ABSOLUTE CHOICE between unarmed humanitarian service and "armed" service, WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS TO ANY-ONE, for any reason.

[Warpy]

9. If you don't think a madman like Stupid or Cheney won't change that

with a stroke of a pen on an Executive Order, yer nuts.

NO DRAFT. Get it?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. If you believe either "Stupid" or "Cheney" are absolute rulers over this notion,....

,...they are absolute rulers over your mind.

GET IT?

:wow:

[Warpy]

15. If you think anybody will challenge them

then you haven't been paying attention for the past 7 years.

GET IT?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

21. YOU haven't? I haven't? WE HAVEN'T?

Get it?

If you are prepared to say our activities mean NOTHING,...you and I part.

[HawkerHurricane]

34. Absolute choice...

You can join the infantry and be sent to Iraq with a gun and body armor, Or you can join the road building crew and be sent to Iraq with a shovel...

[halobeam]

6. no because....

1. I don't believe in forcing someone to kill or be killed: that contradicts democracy in my opinion.

2. Iraq war is based on lies and why should I trust this government to tell the truth again?

3. A whole host of other reasons, which I am too sick and tired of the warmongering to even get into.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

11. Had you read the poll, you would not have posted your #1 or #2 or #3.

Geez. Are people so CONSUMED (as consumers) that they are unable to take a moment and READ (let alone REFLECT) on a simple poll because it has a word inflaming their worst fears?

:shrug:

[halobeam]

19. maybe misread it rather than didn't read it .. or

misunderstood it. Are people so CONSUMED (with their own high and mightiness)that they don't take a moment and REFLECT before they assume the worst in others?


oh, and Geez, back at ya.
:P

[NMMNG]

14. Not every citizen even has full Civil/Human Rights

Let alone health care and other such things. How can you make the claim that they must serve the nation?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

25. Because,...if those who "have" SERVE those who have nothing,...not only a service,...

,...to this nation is given, A PERSPECTIVE IS EARNED.

Perspective is EARNED through experience, mostly.

[alfredo]

16. Expand Americorp and include a military option. No mandatory

duty, but make it well worth their time: free school and if you choose the military, your books and housing is covered too. this is over and above the pay you receive for national duty.

[tkmorris]

17. I'll commit to serving this nation........

When IT commits to serving ME.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

20. Yup.

;(

[TahitiNut]

22. Then make yourself and the nation one in the same.

The way it's SUPPOSED to be. Self-governance. Democracy. All that shit.

[tkmorris]

24. Of course

That is what we are all trying to do. Unfortunately there are very powerful people who don't agree. There is no magic wand to be waved that will make it so.

[Sparkly]

30. Ask not what you can do for your country,

ask -- oh wait....

[AndyTiedye]

18. NO!

Forced military service provides the Mad Cowboys with unlimited cannon fodder. The Vietnam war could never have been escalated as far as it was without a draft. Imagine what McCain would do with a draft! :scared:

Forced civilian service introduces another pool of very-low-cost labor with no collective bargaining rights into the workforce. Often, they would be displacing unionized public service employees.

[HawkerHurricane]

23. No, thank you.

You cannot MAKE someone want to serve thier country. One of the biggest problems in military service is dealing with people who decided after they sign up that they made a mistake and want out. Now, imagine trying to deal with someone who never signed up in the first place...

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

27. Once again, "serving country" is demeaned to arms rather than humanitarianism.

NOW,...IMAGINE the poll which requires ABSOLUTE CHOICE in serving humanitarian versus militia duty.

btw IF the "draft" I propose actually were imposed, the war profiteers would scream like stuck pigs!!!

[HawkerHurricane]

33. "Death, or Gumba!"

Force service is forced service. Does it matter if it's forced to combat, or forced to make roads in Alaska?

And war profiteers would cackle with glee, quickly becoming road building profiteers.

And the powerful/connected/wealthy would find loopholes to avoid service. They always do.

[Bright Eyes]

26. Forced Volunteering?

No thanks.

[Sparkly]

31. It wouldn't be "volunteering."

What made you think of the word "volunteering?" Just curious.

[dflprincess]

28. No conscription of any kind because

I don't believe in involuntary servitude.

[Sparkly]

29. I say YES.

When there is a choice of HOW to give back -- and the obligation without the ability to buy one's way out of it -- I think it's compatible with the best of a socialist vision and I think it'd go a long way.

[Alexander]

32. No. There should be a "GI Bill" for non-military service, though.

As in, put 2 years in the Peace Corps or something, and college is free.

Maybe they do that already. But if not, they should.