What does it mean to defend freedom at all costs? To answer
that question, we must ask ourselves what freedom consists of. For that
answer, we look to the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness."
The right to life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness is the most basic and fundamental of all rights America stands
for. That is what freedom consists of. If a person were forced, against
their will, to join a military, and fight in a war, where they are likely to
die one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable- that is a denial of the most
fundamental human right ever conceived. Any person who supports such a
denial of rights is doing so in contrast to the principles of the
Declaration Of Independence, and thus cannot lay claim to the title of
patriot, for their attitudes run counter to the official attitudes of the
founding fathers of the United States of America.
There would have
been no purpose to the formation of a nation such as America, if those
rights were denied to the people by the very nation in which they live. The
Draft is thus un-American. Supporters of the Draft are thus also
un-American. If a body of elected officials were to pass a Draft bill,
counter to the principles for which this nation stands, what then would be
the patriotic thing to do?
Refusing to comply with the draft order,
no matter what the consequence, is what a true patriot would do, for he or
she would know that in doing so, future generations would be shielded from a
gross infringement of their human rights. That is what protecting America
consists of.
Allowing oneself to be sacrificed like a lamb by
reckless politicians who act out of political or economic ambition- would
endanger future generations to be subjected to the same horrendous fate. The
chain must be broken at some point in time. Political leaders need to know
there are boundaries to what they can and cannot do. That is what the
constitution was meant to achieve, but many lawmakers have ceased to view
the constitution as a set of limits, and now instead treat the
lawmaker-appointed (and thus lawmaker compliant) judiciary as the only limit
to their power.
Human beings are souls, not resources. Nobody should
let another person treat them like an object, for any reason. People deserve
to be treated with dignity and respect for their physical space. To allow
oneself to be forced to fight in another country on potentially fraudulent
speculation of what the other nation might someday do, is not patriotism,
even if you are following "orders". To follow "orders" in such circumstances
is merely complicity in the degradation of one's own government, and thus an
act of contempt against the people of one's own nation. That is the opposite
of Patriotism.
A citizen of America, whether they are a lawmaker or
an average citizen, has but one obligation and that is to the people of
their country. To defend the people of one's own country sometimes requires
us to resist or refuse unacceptable demands from the leaders of one's own
nation.
When we refuse to allow ourselves to be disposed of like
toilet paper, we are also protecting our fellow citizens from being treated
like garbage by lawmakers who have grown contemptuous of the very population
they claim to represent.
It should not matter what reason a lawmaker
puts forth for placing the citizens of America on a perpetual death row by
implementing a draft policy. We cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the
temptation to risk the lives of our children, our neighbor's children, or
any of our fellow citizens. Whether a lawmaker seeks to revive the draft as
a tactic to promote war, or as a tactic to avoid war, is irrelevant. What
matters is what can happen once the legislation is passed, and the
consequences our children would pay for mistakes of this nation's leaders.
Our children did not cause this rush to war, and whether those children's
parents are democrats or republicans, there is no excuse to sentence these
children to death for political purposes.
Those lawmakers seeking to
reintroduce the draft are using a kamikaze tactic which threatens to destroy
the entire nation, and end millions of innocent children's lives in an
inhumane and grotesque manner. That is the way of America's enemies, not the
way of America. Our children's lives are not banter to be bargained with or
used as tools for negotiating. Every person is an individual soul who has
the God-given right to decide their own destiny, regardless of whether their
decisions run counter to the wishes of their parents or the lawmakers
elected by one's parents.
If a person chooses to join the military,
even then should they be given the right to decide if they should fight in a
war or not. If they are denied that right, such a denial would be a crime.
Likewise, it is also a crime to expand such a denial of rights to all
American people, even if such an expansion of civil rights denial is
motivated by a desire to avoid war, or "spread the pain". Two wrongs have
never equaled a right, and that is an important truth which everyone must
consider.
America is only America if the people of America stand up
for the principles of this country, and remain true to those principles no
matter which party is in power, or what that party is trying to achieve
through the legislation they pass or the wars they ask us to fight on their
behalf. Patriotism means defending America's freedom, even if one must do so
against the wishes of America's leaders, no matter who they are or what they
are trying to achieve.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness."
Nobody has the right to deny any individual
soul the right to live their life or pursue happiness, no matter what the
circumstance, or what the motive. Anyone who tries to tell us otherwise is
no less a danger to our society than the Taliban and their philosophical
counterparts.
Mike Schiller [EMAIL PROTECTED]
