Controversial Political Opinions

[JasonBlack]

(05-22-2022, 09:49 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(05-21-2022, 08:49 PM)JasonBlack Wrote: The saving grace of boomers is that they saved the crusading of older idealist gens for battles they know they can win with few causalities. ex: I was against the war in Iraq and most of what was done in Afghanistan, but I will say this...we kicked their asses. There was no risk of a draft, and even if you felt you needed to join the military to afford school and healthcare, you had plenty of other options. The boomers gave millennials and Gen X the choices they were never given, and we should remember that.

edit: reading this again, I realize that was kind of your point haha

Not to pour too much gasoline on the fire, but killing the draft was probably the greatest mistake of 1970s America, and near the top of the list for America in general. Nixon did it to win votes (it worked), but it meant that the very idea of shared civic duty died right then and there. No one is answering JFK's question about what any of us should do for our country, it's all transactional: I vote (or not) and you give me things. No nation can operate that way forever. Right now, the military consists of 1% of the population, and most (though certainly not all of those 1%) considered themselves super-citizens. We can't have a special class of citizen unless we wish to become what we abhor.

There are plenty of programs which have the potential to foster civic spirit without coercing people into shooting young boys overseas (college age males still feel like "boys" to me). I admit, war has a long and consistent track record of raising a country's moral, but for once....I'm going to be an idealist and say I think we can come up with some better alternatives.