There have been a number of interesting comments -- most extremely thoughtful -- on the matter of the profoundly regrettable efforts to revive the draft that are currently underway.
Obviously, I very much feel that we must oppose any effort to reinstitute the draft. And I think it would be a serious mistake to assume that anything other than a very small minority of GIs can ever be genuinely radicalized -- in the context of military society and culture -- given all presently foreseeable circumstances.. This is certainly not to underestimate the great importance of any progress under those always very difficult and inhibiting circumstances. But we'd better be very realistic on these things -- especially in this especially grim and repressive epoch. The Viet Nam "war" went on for a very long time indeed. A short generation later, we had the very enthusiastically-backed Gulf War. I was a volunteer in another era. Most of those with me were conventional draftees -- and almost all of those were of working class background. About half of the minority kids were volunteers, half draftees. Most middle-class kids were in colleges and universities -- and were able to maintain perpetual deferments. In addition to all of the other very solid reasons against any draft, only the most naive would assume class egalitarianism in that context! H Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org Protected by NaŽshdoŽiŽbaŽiŽ and Ohkwari' In our Gray Hole, the ghosts often dance in the junipers and sage, on the game trails, in the tributary canyons with the thick red maples, and on the high windy ridges -- and they dance from within the very essence of our own inner being. They do this especially when the bright night moon shines down on the clean white snow that covers the valley and its surroundings. Then it is as bright as day -- but in an always soft and mysterious and remembering way. [Hunterbear] _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
