I love how people who never served in combat can be so cavalier in starting wars, and sending other peoples children to be possibly killed
Amen to that! Pisses me off when Mr. Five-DeferMITT talks all tough. Hey Mitt- I fought, You didnt
Unless you want to require military service to be prerequisite to the run for President, it is kind of an unfair standard to say only candidates who are veterans can take a stance on certain issues.
I want military service to be compulsary for all citizens
I can appreciate some of the arguments for national service/military service, but in the end, its still involuntary servitude. And I'm not down with that. So yeah, I'll be with the Chairman on this one then.
On the substance of chicken hawks, its more a measure of folks who refused to serve when others were forced to (which I don't believe is right under any circumstances) who then go on to call for others to serve. That's the thing that gets people on this subject. Sometimes it compels them to the answer of "Everyone should serve!" as opposed to the truth that "This person was against self sacrifice and service when it was their neck on the line, are for it for when its someone else's, and is thus a hypocrite." It would be nice to avoid the realities of the 1960s and 70s when it comes to the draft and the numerous escape hatches those with influence had for themselves and their children. But those realities will exist if there's ever a draft again given the current trajectory of power in this country. So not only is mandatory service a bad idea from a rights view, but its also impossible to implement it fairly in this country.
I don't believe it should be a requirement that a potential commander-in-chief have served in the military, and in some ways its better if they haven't or did so many years previous, so as to provide a fresh perspective to the upper levels of command, but if someone was exploiting loop holes in an unfair system that makes it less fair for others (such as with the draft), then that shows an aspect of that person's character that there are not many chances to view. And it doesn't matter if that unfair system was the draft or something else entirely (taxes might be a good example, but I'm to tired to parse an argument on this). Its only because there's great emotion, patriotism, and death attached to service that it grows beyond a clean cut view of fair vs unfair.
