| | Rick,
Hear, hear! Thank you for looking at the big picture.
As Heidi is a senior in college, and is currently working on finishing several long, difficult, and brilliant final papers, I will take this opportunity to defend her intellectual honor, as it were. But this is not mere chivalry or husbandly prerogative on my part; I whole-heartedly agree with Heidi's economic case against the draft, and I believe it is as valid a defense of freedom as the ethical argument would be.
The first thing to note, beyond all the nitpicking and hurt feelings that have arisen from an obvious difference of opinion over the "War on Terror", is that the main thrust of the article, its actual point, is not about that war (or any war) at all! Heidi uses her belief, her subjective value preference, as part of a compare/contrast example in making an economic argument. She is not trying to make her case against the War. If she were, the article's thesis would read "the War on Terror is wrong [doesn't make economic sense]", and she would follow that up with her reasons for that position. But her gripe here is with the draft, so that is where her arguments aim.
Secondly, just because Heidi is making an economic argument against conscription does not mean she rejects or undermines the moral argument against it. You see, Heidi is an economist, whereas I am a philosopher (yes, this does make for some interesting discussions at home). So, while I think in terms of objective principles and the nature of the good life, she thinks in terms of personal subjective value scales and the axiom of human action. Does this mean one of us thinks the "right way" and one the "wrong way"? No! My having an ethical argument against the draft in no way invalidates, supercedes, or makes unnecessary Heidi's praxeological argument against it, and vice-versa.
I would argue, for instance, that coercing individuals into military service violates their natural right to determine their own lives; Heidi, by contrast, argues that, in accordance with the fact that people respond to incentives, a voluntary army will be more efficient and effective than a conscripted one. There is nothing in the second position that contradicts anything in the first. On the contrary, the two arguments, if anything, strengthen each other, and give one more ground to stand on in facing down draft supporters.
For those who feel uber-sensitive about the fact that someone holds a belief that differs from their own, well, Heidi is a strong woman who's not afraid to speak her mind. If you disagree with something she says, make your case, but don't forget that your focus shouldn't be on minutiae of opinion, but on the thrust of her argument.
And for the record, Heidi's opposing the "War on Terror" (encompassing the PATRIOT Act, the Bureaucracy of Homeland Security, and the mission to send American boys to die for the Iraqi people's right to elect themselves a new Mullah) does not mean she supports terrorism, it does not make her anti-American, and it does not mean that she thinks the military is unnecessary or wrong. On the contrary, Heidi is more passionately committed to freedom and the American way of life than anyone I have ever met, and I know for a fact that she does not take her liberty, and the protection thereof, for granted. So there.
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