The Vile Draft I
by G. Stolyarov II
Most Honorable Senator Fitzgerald,
My passion for freedom and the ideals implicit in the founding of the United States of America is unwavering, and the words of Thomas Jefferson concerning the requirement for eternal vigilance if liberty is to be preserved come to mind as I become alerted of a menace to the fundamental rights of Americans that is closer to home than the threat of terrorism itself.
While the United States seeks to broadcast the image of liberation, free enterprise, and individual rights abroad, there is a design within the chambers and committees of the Capitol to desecrate these sacred principles at home. I am referring to the twin bills, S 89 and HR 163, which are currently pending before the Committee on Armed Services. These bills would institute a nationwide draft for which youths from ages 18 to 26 would be eligible, regardless of current educational or workplace endeavors or ideological convictions.
As a child, I immigrated to this country from the Republic of Belarus, a republic in name only. This nation languishes under the iron fist of the dictator Lukashenko, who passes every youth through a program of indoctrination by his regime, which features as its culmination two years of compulsory military service. I fled this threat from an admitted Neo-Communist and hater of America, only to be subjected to the menace of a viler and far less lenient draft in the freest country on Earth.
Lukashenko, for all his malice, still permits draft deferments for anyone enlisted in a facility of higher education. This draft would not. He permits intellectual youths to study abroad and thus avoid the draft indefinitely. But, due to the December 2001 “smart border declaration,” which shall attempt to apprehend potential draftees crossing into Canada, this draft would not. Even a dictator recognizes, at least partly, an individual’s right to forge his own destiny by means of attaining knowledge, skills, and a specialty in the realm of higher education. The proponents of this draft, a bipartisan movement including Congressmen Rangel and Hagel, do not.
The fundamental rights that are the natural property of every human being include the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. My right to life means that no individual, group, or government can ever possess the prerogative to kill me. Yet, by sending me to do battle abroad, against my consent, armed with only a doughboy’s knowledge of war, the government would render me easy prey for any terrorist or fanatic devious enough to know the elementary tactics I would have been taught. The government would be prepared to throw my life on the line, indeed, to throw it away, for service to some vaguely defined “higher cause.” Yet, whatever this higher cause is, if it intrudes on this country’s founding principles, it is soundly un-American.
My right to liberty implies the right to chart my own course in life, to select my own field of professional endeavor. I am a writer, not a soldier. Others have pursued the military path of their own volition, and I hold the highest reverence for their service to the cause of freedom worldwide. Yet they serve their individual causes above all; they had made the independent rational judgment that a fighting career would be of amplest benefit to them. I had not made that judgment. I would not make that judgment for them. And I would detest any tyrant, whatever name he chooses to go under, who would presume to make that judgment for me.
My right to the pursuit of happiness implies just that; so long as I do not violate others’ basic liberties, I am entitled to whatever ends I deem just and whatever means I deem fitting. I will indeed be happy if terrorism and dictatorship are eradicated worldwide. I have written articles, poetry, and commentary advocating America’s firm, uncompromising stance against those who would wish to threaten the lives and prosperity of its citizens. But my happiness is found in my study near a computer, not on a battlefield. In a country where free enterprise and specialization of labor are held essential to the progress of every individual, I should be permitted to remain where I sit.
If the draft ever becomes reality, and I continue this protest, as I vow I shall, I will no doubt be termed a traitor and a foe of patriotism. But it is precisely my devotion to the essence that this nation is supposed to represent that impels me to voice my opposition. In the words of the great American journalist and freedom-lover, Henry Louis Mencken, “The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” It is no less that a radical stance against this abominable draft that I urge of you, Senator, and I hope that you will have the courage to resist its implementation in word and in deed.
I am
G. Stolyarov II,
Editor-in-Chief,
The Rational Argumentator
http://www.geocities.com/rationalargumentator/masterindex.html
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