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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: November 21, 2006
Latest Update: November 21, 2006
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
First of all, what kind of equity are we talking about?
- Equity in the social and economic class from which those who are sent to fight are drawn? Right now that's the working class and the lower middle class. Why? The economic benefits are often not accessible through other routes. Does this mean they risk their lives to get that access?
Who would risk their lives for access to education, training, and job opportunities? Those who can't get them without such risk. Is that equitable?
- Equity in terms of competency? Our armed services clearly need competent people to protect our nation-state. Our protection can never be complete without global consideration, because borders everywhere have far less meaning than they once did. We need competency in language facility, self defense, defense of others, compassionate decision-making in violence-prone contexts, competence in infrastructure skills of planning, building, and technology oversight. Even if the armed services aren't "doing the task" themselves, oversight requires nearly equal competence.
If our working and lower middle-class students were receiving the basics for such competency, would they be willing to take grreater risks than the upper-middle and wealthy youth must take for the same competencies? Is that equity?
- Equity in terms of caring? When only the relatively poor are sent to do the fighting, the rich continue to lead a privileged and flagrant life style? Is that equity? Why won't Congress send their children to Iraq?
- The inevitable monster of privilege? Who is privileged now by this war? FOLLOW THE MONEY. Who should be privileged? We need our brilliant engineers. We may want to protect them as invaluable assets? Are there other ways to protect them than by leaving them free to their own devices and desires while others are killed in a war? What about service as engineers here at home where our infrastructure is falling apart? Check out the Backup of Christian Science Monitor article by Brad Knickerbocker. He has some good ideas.
And last, but certainly not least, what about the pool of incarcerated that some wardens will say at least 50% of which do not really belong locked up any longer, if ever. How does the induction of those with gang-relations or with prison records affect the volunteer army and the draft?
Discussion Questions
- Who's the Congressman bringing up the draft?
Representative Charles Rangel of New York. Representative Charles Rangel's Web Site . " The War In Iraq: A Moral Failure: WASHINGTON - In January 2003, as President Bush put the nation on a path to war in Iraq, I introduced my bill to reinstate the military draft in the hope that it would remind Americans that lives would be lost and the sacrifice should be shared by all. The greatest moral failure of this war is that the ultimate sacrifices are being demanded of volunteers who, due to lack of alternative opportunities, are willing to risk their lives for a chance to improve their economic circumstance and pursue the American Dream."
References:
- >Behind talk of a new draft: equity By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor. Backup.
