by Chuck Harding

Created on: March 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 31, 2009

Ah, the military draft is still up in the air isn't it? The question? Should we or should we not draft people into the armed forces. Some people when drafted scream, "it's a violation of my civil rights." While others go dutifully, although reluctantly, but they go. But if we don't draft, during perilous times, we face the possibility of being unable to defend our nation against those who would take away our civil rights. What a quandary to be confronted with, it's a no win either way isn't it? No draft or possibly no rights.

Perhaps a definition of what a draft is or should be would resolve some of the conflict between the opposing sides of the issue. The intensity of feelings runs the gamut on both sides. There are those who believe everyone should serve, regardless . . . and there are those who feel military service should not be required, under any circumstances . . . for whatever their reason. There in lies the beauty of our great country, the freedom of choice. But when considering the issue of a draft, perhaps before casting your vote, moral or immoral, you would be better served to explore it a little more in depth . . . just to make sure it's not a rush to judgment.

Could it be the main objection is not whether a draft is immoral, but rather, is the cause for implementing a draft perilous enough to do so, is the threat real? The bombs falling on Pearl Harbor were real, the danger was not eminent or imagined, real people were dying. The United States of America, our way of life, and the constitution was under attack; we were poorly prepared to depend ourselves.

If and when a draft is implemented, by congress, our elected officials, it's something no one is happy about. The message is clear . . . "we are in trouble and none of our choices are good ones." Peaceful resolution is no longer a viable option; our enemy has decided that for us. It's a call for action; defend our self or perish. Under that scenario, academic debate about the morality of a draft, to most people, becomes folly.

Some insist we build a peacetime military to defend against such events. Hire for pay mercenaries trained to defend us in times of threat, thus we don't have to do the killing ourselves. Is the hiring of trained killers somehow an answer to the moral problem? I suppose to some not having the blood on their hands eases their conscious. The idea dates as far back as the Roman Legions, but then and now the system has failed to fulfill the quotas required to accomplish victory in a win-lose strangle hold conflict. An infusion of patriots is needed, people who will fight for an ideal, for their freedom, something far more motivating than the value of a paycheck.

So perhaps in the living rooms, the boardrooms and the dorm rooms across our great country the debate of this issue "is the draft immoral?" is quibbled over and reviewed, as it should be during our leisurely times of idleness. But when we as a people, as a nation, are truly and earnestly facing extinction there will be little time for idle chitchat. The founding fathers of this nation made sure we were assured of our rights, and we should do all we can to preserve those rights, they are the bedrock of who we are and always will be.

Immoral? . . . That's a word, which has been subjective throughout history to all civilizations. But there's one thing for certain . . . there is no morality in war, for war in itself is immoral.

What do we do to preserve our freedom? . . . What ever it takes!

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