What a turbulent scene! In February I was forced into signing into existence the Selective Service bit--evidently before a university grants admission, a person is required to take that action.
Recently I've been interested in conscription. As you can see, this Library of Congress wood engraving with letterpress on wove paper depicts Horatio Seymour's "My friends" speech which took place between July 11 and 16, 1863, (and) broke out as a result of the Enrollment Act, which was highly discriminatory to the lower classes.
This has me thinking. I hope there won't be another draft while I'm in my whippersnapper youth. Is this selfish? I take it back. If there is to be conscription, and it seems logical given our imperialist nature, I will go about the same sorts of rebellion that my forefellows have. I will resist, especially if courts do not grant me CO status.
Maybe I'll travel to Sweden, take up shop in the "weapons-free" branch and become a nurse.
Or I'll pull an Arlo Guthrie-- get good and drunk the night before, so I'll look and act my best. They'll see I'm not moral enough to kill.
Or perhaps I'll take a seat next to Ol' George Reynolds in federal prison. We'll wear and tie each other's elegant bandannas. Georgy will have white, while I'll gladly savor the green colour.
You'll be able to see retrospective when I pull a Paul Robert Cohen by "maliciously and willfully disturb[ing] the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person . . . by . . . offensive conduct . . . ."
I won't pull a "Don't taser me bra", but my inevitable reaction will be around the corner alley of "Fuck the Draft".
I know people have loyally served their country. That's brilliant. But I have just as much a right to hate the crap out of our empire. Thoreau saw it coming.
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I was nearly drafted - Israel drafts both men and women. Glad I got out of that...
Yeah I've heard about the Israeli draft. Seems more democratic...
You make it sound like you're a fugitive. "I got out of that..."
What's the story here? Did you catch a galleon ship off the shores of the Mediterranean and escape?
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly
I actually have nothing against the Israeli draft. I think it's wonderful, actually. People don't have to go into combat, there's a LOT of community service options (like teaching soldiers Hebrew, or helping them gain high school diplomas, or working in hospitals, schools, etc). It's a wonderful cultural and coming-of-age experience... just not for me. I did not deliberately get out. You see, I have an array of scars on my arm, and when the army doctor saw them, she suddenly decided she actually didn't want me to fill out the medical questionare or have the physical exams done. *shrug*
That's interesting. Something tells me the American drafts of the 19th and 20th centuries wouldn't have made the same decision.
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly
There are so many things I want to say right now. This country allows for every right you have. If it called on you I don't understand why you wouldn't reply. Also there are so many brave men and women in this country that, you can stay in your basement and not get drafted, the draft wont be imposed for the Iraq war, end of story.
Are you currently in the military? Or are you puffing your chest like a chicken hawk?
Sustainably yers, http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/green-underbelly