By Kalani Leifer
“Dear Mr. Leifer: Too good to fight for your country, huh? Never mind. If need be, I suspect we can make do without you.”“Dear Mr. Smith: . . . So if you ask if I’m too good to fight for my country, I’d say no. I am, however, too good to blindly follow and not question, the very principle that makes this nation great. I’m extremely sorry you have forgotten this.”
“Sir: You are a silly young man, full of your own self-importance, blinded by your own intellect. Perhaps we can continue this conversation when you’ve grown up. Best of luck to you.”
Thus went my e-mail exchange with a respondent from Granbury, Texas, regarding my previous column (“Selective Service, Feb. 18). This was by far the most civil rejoinder I received. (I stopped responding when I received four additional angry letters within as many minutes.) I began to wonder how I had erred so dramatically as to so deeply offend the characteristically liberal Cardinal community — I mean, these are the people who read The Daily, right?
Later, I discovered that FreeRepublic.com, which describes itself as “the premiere online gathering place for independent, grassroots conservatism on the Web,” had picked up my column, re-titling it “Selective Service (the rarefied air of elite colleges).” Following the text — which taken out of the context of a college newspaper is already vulnerable to misinterpretation — is a message-board dedicated to disparaging a “duplicitous, whining pussy” (me).
At first, as is evident in my initial responses, I felt an intense desire to convince this unexpected conservative readership that just because I oppose registering for the draft doesn’t mean that I’m an uppity egomaniac who considers himself too good to defend his rights. I have come to realize, however, that these people engage in a practice that I myself have often been guilty of: unwillingness to listen to the other side.
“They’ll leave the fighting to the underprivileged patriots in the non-elite universities, community colleges and common high schools. People such as Liefer [sic] are just too good to risk . . . “
That posting, in my opinion, best sums up the attitude of said liberal-bashing message-board. There are other equally telling passages, but they’re not exactly “fit to print.” (See for yourself BELOW) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1347418/posts#comment.) It is the specific posting above, however, to which I would like to respond.
Even though FreeRepublic.com likely won’t publish this column — and thus I will not reach the very audience I desire to rebut — I think it’s necessary to restate my position, as it is entirely possible that the exact opposite of what I intended was deduced from last week’s article.
One of my primary reasons for opposing the draft — or needing to register for it — is its inherent inequality. I would be the first to contend that it is privileged young men (not just those in elite colleges) that have historically been able to avoid fighting in foreign wars — as exemplified during the latter half of the 20th century, especially in President George W. Bush’s case. It is indeed the underprivileged, the uneducated and, in many cases, the minorities who end up fighting these wars.
These people, however, are not the ones who will our nation to war — it is the privileged ones in Washington who know full well that their sons will slip through the loopholes. Even though it’s only my personal interpretation of current events, I subscribe to the notion that the disenfranchised would sooner invest $87 billion in their ailing communities than engage in a wild goose hunt in Iraq.
That brings me to my second, equally misinterpreted point — one that permeates socio-economic standing and cuts directly to morality. To be blunt, I am wholly opposed to America’s current war in Iraq, and I refuse to see that as an unpatriotic stance. Is not a true American patriot he who relentlessly questions the actions of his leaders? Don’t take my word for it, though — take Benjamin Franklin’s: “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
Even if the war is precisely what the Bush administration would have the nation believe — namely a fight for the extension of freedom (a convenient back-up after the non-discovery of weapons of mass destruction) — I must dissent. How can we claim to be ambassadors of freedom abroad if 11 states just ratified amendments limiting the freedom of men and women to marry whom they love?
When I say that I am unwilling to fight to defend our freedoms, it is not because I believe that I am “too good to fight for my country.” I am opposed to registering for the draft (even if that draft never sees the light of day) because judging by the war in Iraq, I don’t believe that future wars that may necessitate a draft will actually be fought in defense of our rights. And even if they are, I am less and less convinced that these rights are, in fact, universal within our own nation.
Oh, and by the way, I did register for the draft after all.
<>Kalani finds it interesting that when his friend tried to participate in “Free” Republic’s message-board, his comments were “Removed by Moderator” and his membership was revoked. E-mail him at kalani08@stanford.edu.STANFORD DAILY - February 25, 2005
THE ORIGINAL COLUMN, POSTED BY "ROCKINRYE" WITH COMMENTARY::
Selective Service (the rarefied air of elite colleges)
Stanford Daily ^
Posted on 02/20/2005 2:21:29 PM PST by RockinRye
By Kalani Leifer Opinions Columnist
Friday, February 18, 2005
Six months, 17 days. That’s how long I’ve been 18 years old. $250,000 and five years in prison. As of now, that’s what I owe the federal government for evading the draft. I am a hardnosed liberal, aren’t I?
OK, OK, so maybe I’m not actually a draft-dodger. After all, last time I checked, President Bush isn’t looking to commit political suicide, and a quarter of a million dollars makes me weak in the knees. To be quite honest, my apparent refusal to register for Selective Service is grounded for the most part in laziness, not dissent.
I recently logged onto www.sss.gov to do a little research, under mounting pressure from my big brother and a five-year incarceration. And as I navigated the excessively draft-happy Web site I became increasingly, well, draft-unhappy. However, during the nervous hour or so I spent surfing the Selective Service System, or SSS, I did gain a better understanding of what exactly it is that I’m avoiding.
The most notable facet of the System (the strategic third “S” in “SSS” conveniently differentiates it from the Nazi secret police), is its striking similarity to the College Board’s Web site. You’ve got your exceptionally ecstatic models representing everyone from the ambiguous blonde Asian to the Texan jock, from the token black guy to the gawky musician. And not to be outdone, you’ve got the pensive kid and the stock kid from Guam. The only ones missing are, of course, the women.
But the uncanny resemblance to the profoundly detested collegeboard.com accounts for only a small portion of my distaste for the SSS - after all, the Board didn’t hinder my getting to where I am today. I guess what really bugs me, go figure, is what the Selective Service stands for - all the baggage that the draft carries, and the idea that upon registration there’s a chance I’ll be lugging that baggage around.
The most ominous page I found on the Web site discussed “how the draft has changed since Vietnam.” Most notably, “If a draft were held today, there would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service.” Great. Prior to 1971 a full-time student “could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was . . . making satisfactory progress toward a degree . . . Under the current draft law, a college student can have his induction postponed only until the end of the current semester.”
And thus it seems that the far-reaching tentacles of the draft could penetrate even the durable walls of our Stanford bubble. It is becoming increasingly apparent that a reinstatement of the draft - the first in over 30 years - is not all that unlikely. Take the American government’s recent claims of Iranian nuclear aspirations, coupled with North Korea’s declaration of nuclear missile possession, not to mention the perpetual degeneration of the war in Iraq.
I am not, however, an alarmist or a pessimist; I am an idealist - a pragmatist at best. If ultimately there is a draft in Bush’s second term, which I personally wouldn’t bet on, I know that I will not take part. I’ll be a happy Swiss in Switzerland. However, I know that not everyone is blessed with dual citizenship. Even more pressingly, I am aware that many, including myself, are privileged or wealthy enough to avoid the draft, as exemplified by Bush in Vietnam. But I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
The idealistic part of me would be content to continue avoiding registration - most likely, though, by the time this gets printed I’ll have given in to simple pragmatism and, you know, legality.
Kalani is currently apartment shopping in Switzerland. E-mail him at kalani08@stanford.edu.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: California
KEYWORDS: DOPEDOUTCOLLEGEKIDS; DRAFT; DRAFTLIES; INANITY; PEACENIKS; SELECTIVESERVICE; SHELTERED; SSS; STANFORD
a. How does a Swiss guy mix up the SS and the Gestapo?
b. Does this guy know that the President can't call up the draft? Is he intentionally lying to impugn GW, or is he just a moron who believes the lamestream media?
c. Does Switzerland have mandatory military service? (I thought I read that somewhere...)
d. What perpetual degeneration of Iraq? Did liberals not read the Iraqi election stories?
e. Is this the kind of inanity that's going to come out of our 'elite' colleges for the next generation?
by rrrrrrr
To: rrrrrrr
I hope when we need the draft, we can exempt the traitorous cowardly left.
by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
To: rrrrrrr
What perpetual degeneration of Iraq? Did liberals not read the Iraqi election stories?
Liberals are not required to take into account any facts they don't like or that disprove their world view.
by Bahbah
To: rrrrrrr
What a punk!
joedelta (Those who long for peace must prepare for war)
To: rrrrrrr
Is this the kind of inanity that's going to come out of our 'elite' colleges for the next generation?
Yes. Just like the last generation.
by andyandval
To: rrrrrrr
The answer is e.)...
They'll leave the fighting to the underprivileged patriots in the non-elite universities, community colleges and common high schools. People such as Liefer are just too good to risk...
okie01 (A slavering moron and proud member of the lynch mob, cleaning the Augean stables of MSM since 1998.)
To: Bahbah
It's the New Science...just throw out the bad data.
by rrrrrrr
To: rrrrrrr
OK, OK, so maybe I’m not actually a draft-dodger. To be quite honest, my apparent refusal to register for Selective Service is grounded for the most part in laziness, not dissent.
So what are you complaining about? Get down to the post office and register and do your duty, a duty Jimmy Carter re-instituted back in 1979 mind you. Man to be a liberal really means not having to be held accountable for anything.
by NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961
To: shubi
I hope when we need the draft, we can exempt the traitorous cowardly left.
Exempt them -- are you mad?!? Do you really want all these hippie-wannabees to stay back home breeding baby hippie-wannabees while our nation's real men are dying on the battlefield?
I say, put these pukes on the front lines, pronto! Preferably, as minefield sweepers.
by SpyGuy (Liberalism is slow societal suicide. And screw political correctness: Islam is the Religion of Death)
To: shubi
I hope when we need the draft, we can exempt the traitorous cowardly left
I just hope that we'll never need the draft.
by Beaker
To: rrrrrrr
The guy's at STANFORD???? Good grief, he can't even WRITE!
Sooth2222
To: rrrrrrr
"I know that I will not take part. I’ll be a happy Swiss in Switzerland."
In other words..
"I'll be content to sit on my fat ass and enjoy the freedoms of America until I'm expected to do something to help preserve them. At that point, I'll run away."
by Joe 6-pack ("It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.")
To: okie01
"I guess what really bugs me, go figure, is what the Selective Service stands for"
What's that - the idea that citizenship entails a responsibility to help defend the nation?
by rrrrrrr
To: SpyGuy
I say, put these pukes on the front lines, pronto! Preferably, as minefield sweepers.
I agree.
by armyman (I'm may not agree with what you say, but I will sacrifice everything to defend your right to say it.)
To: rrrrrrr
the author is a dolt
by Texas_Jarhead (Islam is religion of piece established for profit by Muhammad, piss be upon him.)
To: rrrrrrr
b(2) seems to fit the bozo well.
by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
To: rrrrrrr
Switzerland does not give out citizenship as freely as the US does.
by LauraleeBraswell ( CONSERVATIVE FIRST-Republican second.)
To: rrrrrrr
Waddatwit.
BTW, welcome to FR.
by anniegetyourgun
To: rrrrrrr
I hope this punk's X-Box shorts out. That'll make him cry.
Doctor Raoul (Support Our Troops, Spit On A Reporter)
To: rrrrrrr
Does Switzerland have mandatory military service?
Yes, 3 or 4 months long. After which they get an automatic gun with ammo to keep at home so that they could quickly defend Switzerland if another country attacks (which has not happened in last 8 centuries, though).
by AdrianR
To: rrrrrrr
What's that - the idea that citizenship entails a responsibility to help defend the nation
Not, evidently, if you are a supremely self-important person.
by okie01 (A slavering moron and proud member of the lynch mob, cleaning the Augean stables of MSM since 1998.)
To: rrrrrrr
c. Does Switzerland have mandatory military service? (I thought I read that somewhere...)
From ExxUN.com: Switzerland: 19 years of age for compulsory military service; 17 years of age for voluntary military service; conscripts receive 15 weeks of compulsory training, followed by 10 intermittent recalls for training over the next 22 years (2004)
The fact that military service is compulsary in Switzerland makes this guy a duplicitous, whining pussy.
by delacoert (imperat animus corpori, et paretur statim: imperat animus sibi, et resistitur. -AUGUSTINI)
To: rrrrrrr
I guess what really bugs me, go figure, is what the Selective Service stands for - all the baggage that the draft carries, and the idea that upon registration there’s a chance I’ll be lugging that baggage around.
"Come here babydarlin'...let mommy help you...here...I'll wipe your ass for you......there babydarlin', you feel all better now? Oh?...babysweets can't carry the baggage?...babytootums can't carry his own widdle load?...babysweetfaceluvey to weak and tired and a pussyassed coward to defend his wights?....oh...here sweetums...let me kick your ass outta here, ya pansiedassed POS!
(I was just pretending to be this cowardly double citizenship swisscheese eatin' moron's mama.)
FMCDH(BITS)
by nothingnew (There are two kinds of people; Decent and indecent.)
To: rrrrrrr
"Is this the kind of inanity that's going to come out of our 'elite' colleges for the next generation?" You guessed it. How can it be any way with all the uneducated junkies they call college professors.
by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
To: delacoert
The fact that military service is compulsary in Switzerland makes this guy a duplicitous, whining pussy.
Well stated. He's a pussy and there's no way around that. I say, let's get rid of dual citizenship.
FMCDH(BITS)
by nothingnew (There are two kinds of people; Decent and indecent.)
To: AdrianR
"Yes, 3 or 4 months long. After which they get an automatic gun with ammo to keep at home so that they could quickly defend Switzerland if another country attacks (which has not happened in last 8 centuries, though)."
I don't want to say the wrong thing to the wrong person here, but...it's easy for a Swiss kid to lecture us about national defense when Switzerland can pimp the rest of Europe with its banks and has the best defensive position imaginable in case someone tries to invade its mountaintop resort.
by rrrrrrr
To: rrrrrrr
that’s what I owe the federal government for evading the draft
Telegram for Mongo. There is no draft.
by GVgirl (If I had a Buckhead moment would I know it?)
To: rrrrrrr
The liberals are in a panic because the e-mails circulating on colleges campuses before the election assured everyone that within 90 days of the inauguration Bush was going to reinstate the draft. They now need to come up with some story to cover the utter falseness of these charges.
by The Great RJ
To: rrrrrrr
Not to split hairs, but the author of this piece never said they were Swiss. It looks like the the utopia the sap sucker intends to run to if there is a draft will be Switzerland. Lucky them.
by Hillarys Gate Cult (Witty tag line on back order.)
To: The Great RJ
"e-mails circulating on colleges campuses before the election assured everyone that within 90 days of the inauguration Bush was going to reinstate the draft."
No doubt these students were so smart they didn't bother to read the draft law, which puts the authority to draft squarely in the corner of the Congress. (Such as Charles Rangel, D-NY.)
by rrrrrrr
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
You're right...he must really be French.
by rrrrrrr
To: rrrrrrr
Too bad this punk doesn't have a daddy like mine. My little brother decided he wasn't going to register either and my dad packed him up in the car and hauled his butt down to the Selective Service office and made him! To this day I don't think my brother ever quite forgave him for doing that.
by swmobuffalo (the only good terrorist is a dead one)
To: rrrrrrr
Mr. Kalani:
Rest easy tonight. Far better men than you are providing you that luxury.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -- John Stuart Mill
by pabianice
To: swmobuffalo
The thing I don't understand is if he disagrees with warfare, he could tag himself a conscientious objector.
But it seems he just disagrees with US policy, in which case he asks the government to accomodate his dissent by forgiving him of any duty to defend the country that freely allows such dissent.
by rrrrrrr
To: rrrrrrr
Don't you wish that just once you could teleport these liberal morons back in time to the actual time of Hitler's rule so they could find out what it was really like under the Nazis? It might JUST open their eyes a little, huh?
by Hardastarboard
To: rrrrrrr
This dolt doesn't realize that if he stayed in Switzerland, he'd be conscripted! I know Swiss men, and they periodically have to do reserve-type training well into their 30s and even 40s, I think.
Even my fiance, who is absolutely NOT the military "type" registered for Selective Service - and he wasn't threatened by not getting federal student loans or fear of imprisonment. It's just the right thing to do. He turned 18 and filled out the form. He is now approaching the end of his draft-eligible years, and hasn't given Selective Service a second thought since he registered. If there was a national emergency so serious we needed a draft, and the military was willing to take a guy with ADHD, he'd gladly report for service. It's just not something he'd volunteer for at this stage in life.
Heck, kids can even register online now! My brother did so when he turned 18 last summer, and he said it was terribly easy. The only other time he's thought of it is when he recently needed to prove his Selective Service status for his security clearance (he's active duty military).
by Rubber_Duckie_27
To: Rubber_Duckie_27
He's awfully confident that Switzerland is gonna be there when he's ready to run.
Eurpe is more and more a ripe terror target, and a nuclear attack on the mainland wouldn't be any less likely to include Switzerland omongst the victimes.
by BartMan1
To: shubi
Exempt, the best think that can happen to this puke, is to land at Paris Island, and have his head shaved, and a Marine DI in his FACE for the next 9 weeks.
He would come out with a new outlook on the world!
by agincourt1415 (4 More Years of NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN!)
To: agincourt1415
He wouldn't make it through boot. His Company mates would kill him.
by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
To: rrrrrrr
I have a Kafkaesque experience with this nightmare bureaucracy. I fulfilled my obligation to register for the draft when I was a teenager, but I do not have any evidence of it, I just didn't think about that part. When I tried to apply for loans during school, I was told that I wasn't registered for the draft. No problem, I'll just register. They told me I was too OLD to register for the draft. I was consequently never able to prove that I fulfilled the requirements and I never got any school loans. I probably will never get a guvmint job.
I agree with Reagan that we should have an all-volunteer army except in times of declared war. And I also agree that this is a sexist policy because women are not required to register. But the thing that really bites is that a person should be allowed to re-register if the paperwork gets "lost".
by Kevin OMalley
(No, not Freeper#95235, Freeper #1165: Charter member, What Was My Login Club.)
Comment #41 Removed by Moderator
Comment #42 Removed by Moderator
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