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Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘Selective Service’

Exempt the Amish

Posted by M. C. on November 15, 2024

Lawmakers should repay the Amish for serving our country by exempting them from selective service.

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/exempt-the-amish

It was a humbling experience getting to know some of the Amish voters who helped propel President-elect Donald Trump’s historic comeback victory. In a way, it was like feeling my mind and my heart grow larger inside me through no virtue of my own. I’ll never forget the gratitude I feel toward them; and I believe the Republican Party—and the whole nation—should never forget either.

On the surface, we have nothing in common. I come from a long line of soldiers. My grandfather was an infantryman in World War II. My father, my brother, and I also served in the infantry. My son fought in Syria and Iraq against ISIS. My youngest boys, still in school, are preparing to serve our country too. I put a high premium on military service; and, frankly, I consider it the duty of every Jones boy to enlist.

So that’s this Trump supporter’s background. What strange events could place me in the same room as Amish farmers and tradesmen in the lead-up to the 2024 election?

Trump’s reelection was historic in a million ways, but one of the most historic aspects of the story was how the Amish were drawn into the action. Many of them voted for Trump overwhelmingly, after centuries of their community abstaining from the electoral process.

The absolutely unprecedented Amish vote, particularly in the decisive battleground state of Pennsylvania, would never have been possible if it weren’t for Trump’s own brave decision to stand against the military-industrial complex as it brought us to the precipice of worldwide conflict.

So, what drew the Amish out? Well, the heroic work of pro-Trump activist Scott Presler in Pennsylvania in alerting the Amish to the importance of this election can’t be overstated. But even more fundamental was the persuasive argument—the truth—that Presler was able to tell them.

Trump promised solidarity with the people of Gaza. He promised a preference for peace in Ukraine if reelected. The Amish’s decision to cast their votes ultimately came down to their own aversion to the prospect of the global war that the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket showed every sign of bringing about.

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Doug Casey on Why Conscription Is Coming Back and What You Can Do About It

Posted by M. C. on June 24, 2024

by Doug Casey

Propaganda and jingoism aside, the kind of people who run governments are not the best and the brightest, just the most ambitious and opportunistic. Without exception, they’re power grubbers who like to control other people.

Doug Casey: “Survive” is the prime directive of all living things, from amoebas to governments. That means if the government needs your life to survive or the lives of a million people like you, it will take them. To the State, you’re just a resource—notwithstanding all the rhetoric about democracy, the value of life, and blah, blah, blah.

Doug Casey on Why Conscription Is Coming Back and What You Can Do About It

International Man: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently pledged to bring back mandatory national service.

The German government has also mulled reinstating compulsory military service. In Ukraine, it’s not uncommon for government agents to forcibly kidnap civilians off the streets and send them to the front.

These are a few recent examples. There seems to be a clear trend of governments preparing their citizens for some sort of mandatory national service.

Is conscription coming back in the West generally and the US in particular?

Doug Casey: The US is now automatically registering all males between 18 and 26 into the Selective Service databank. I’m no fan of conscription. Or the military in general. Of course, it shocks a lot of people when I say I’m not a fan of the military, although I tend to like soldiers as individuals. Don’t get me wrong; the military can serve a useful purpose. But when you’re in the military, you’re not necessarily fighting for the country or “freedom.” You’re fighting for the government and the people who control it.

Propaganda and jingoism aside, the kind of people who run governments are not the best and the brightest, just the most ambitious and opportunistic. Without exception, they’re power grubbers who like to control other people.

It’s one thing if someone joins voluntarily, but something else entirely if they’re coerced. The draft, or any kind of mandatory service or conscription, should be called what it is: Involuntary servitude. Or, as shocking as it may sound, slavery.

Anyway, this trend towards conscription everywhere in the West is most disturbing. It’s inuring people to the idea that they should serve the State, the government.

International Man: You’re well-known for saying, “Right now, by paying all their taxes, the government uses you as a milk cow. But they may decide to turn you into a beef cow.”

Can you elaborate?

Does conscription have any place in a free society?

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‘Go straight to hell’: Texas Republican blasts BOTH parties after amendment to DRAFT WOMEN is adopted

Posted by M. C. on September 7, 2021

https://www.rt.com/usa/533799-draft-daughters-congress-ndaa/

While Democrats and some Republicans celebrated the “historic” inclusion of women in the US military draft, Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) went on a rant against both parties for this – and other policies over the years.

The Selective Service system currently requires men aged 18-25 to register for the draft. An amendment that would extend this to women as well was adopted in a 35-24 vote by the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the bill funding the military. 

🎙️ WATCH: Last night, I advanced my historic, bipartisan amendment to include women in the selective service.Grateful for Rep. @michaelgwaltz (R-FL) and all members of the House Armed Services Committee who helped pass this measure 35-24. #NDAApic.twitter.com/6Fr9o9O54N— Chrissy Houlahan (@RepHoulahan) September 2, 2021

The Committee has 31 Democrats and 28 Republicans, meaning four members of the opposition crossed the aisle and backed the “historic” amendment to the NDAA. The Senate already approved the proposal in July, also with some GOP members joining the Democrats.

Roy, a former Senate staffer who was first elected to the House in 2019, fired off a nine-tweet tirade telling both parties to “go straight to hell.” 

“I do not trust you to do anything at all, much less say you will draft my daughter to ‘non combat’ roles,” he tweeted, before offering some examples.

Message to Republicans & Democrats – including @HouseGOP & @SenateGOP colleagues. I do not trust you to do anything at all, much less say you will draft my daughter to “non combat” roles. Why don’t I trust you? Let’s see – THREAD: (1/9) #DontDraftOurDaughters— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) September 2, 2021

Among his list of reprobates were people who amassed $30 trillion in national debt while giving lip service to balanced budgets, did nothing to secure the border except talk “in the false name of compassion,” politicized the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines and treatments for it, and “destroyed our healthcare system” in the “false name of coverage.” 

Roy also lashed out at people who had the US at war for 20 years only for “a gutless President to surrender and empower our enemies,” referring to the recent exit from Afghanistan. He also called out those who empowered “education bureaucrats” to teach children that America is evil and racist, and destroyed US energy independence “to appease institutional investors and the Acela corridor cocktail circuit.”

“Now you… want to draft my daughter and just ‘trust you’ not to put them into combat? All of DC – all of it – can go straight to hell,” he concluded.

Roy’s tirade came as the NDAA cleared the committee in a 57-2 vote, in a late-night session that stretched into Thursday morning. The House markup gives the Pentagon $23.9 billion more in funding than the White House budget request, even after President Joe Biden ended the war in Afghanistan – and the commitment to fund the Afghan government and military forces, which had surrendered to the Taliban in mid-August.

Both the amendment and Roy’s frustrated tweets went largely unnoticed by the major media outlets, which were focused on Thursday on the abortion restrictions that went into effect in Texas.

While the US abolished the military draft after the Vietnam War, the Selective Service registration requirement was only briefly lifted by President Gerald Ford in 1975. His successor Jimmy Carter reinstated it in 1980, citing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. When the Obama administration ordered the military to allow women to take part in combat roles in 2013, the National Coalition for Men sued to declare the registration requirement as unconstitutional on the basis of sex.

The case made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in June that the law was indeed sexist as written, but that Congress was considering updating it – which is precisely what happened. 

Ironically, the Democrats – and Republicans that joined them – have ended up enacting precisely what a meme campaign during the 2016 election accused Hillary Clinton of championing. Back then, sympathizers of Republican candidate Donald Trump argued Clinton would ‘Draft Our Daughters’ to fight Russia, and spread memes about it all over social media. 

Draft our Daughters. #3WordMotivationalSpeechpic.twitter.com/6nletx4KTU— Holtz (@Biorealism) November 3, 2016

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The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Equality in Slavery

Posted by M. C. on August 10, 2021

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2021/august/09/equality-in-slavery/

Written by Ron Paul Monday August 9, 2021
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The Senate Armed Services Committee approved last month a National Defense Authorization Act that includes a requirement that women register with Selective Service on their 18th birthday. If the bill becomes law with this provision included and a military draft is reinstated, women will be forced to join the military, and America will have equality in slavery.

Proponents of drafting women argue that since women can now serve in combat it makes sense to make the draft “gender neutral.”

Some conservatives have made moral arguments against drafting women, saying that women should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to serve in the military. It is certainly true that it is immoral to force women into military service, but that is because it is wrong to force anyone into military service.

Forcing young people, regardless of their sex, to fight, kill, and even die in war is the worst violation of individual liberty a government can commit. Those who support the military draft implicitly reject the Declaration of Independence. How can someone support forced military service and still claim to believe all individuals are endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

While commonly thought of as a “left-wing” position, opposition to the draft has historically united Americans across the political spectrum. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater both opposed the draft while running for president. Russell Kirk, the scholar who helped popularize the term “conservative,” opposed conscription.

Some progressives oppose a military draft but support other forms of mandatory national service. These progressives fail to understand that forcing someone to serve the welfare state is just as immoral as forcing someone to serve the warfare state.

Some conservatives join progressives in supporting mandatory national service. These conservatives claim that mandatory national service provides young people a way to “pay back” the debt they owe society. But these are moral obligations owed to families, churches, and communities, not legal obligations owed to, and properly enforceable by, the government.

Libertarians are consistent opponents of all forms of mandatory service. This is because libertarians apply the prohibitions against violence, theft, and fraud to governments as well as private citizens. So, if it is wrong for your neighbors to force your children to mow the neighbors’ lawn, it is wrong for government to force your children to serve in the military or perform any other type of “national service.”

The nonaggression principle is why libertarians oppose taxation, nationalized healthcare and education, and military crusades in the name of “democracy” or “human rights.” It is also why libertarians oppose laws telling people how to raise their children, limiting access to “extremist” websites, telling business owners who can and cannot use what bathrooms on their property, or prohibiting someone from gambling online, smoking marijuana, or drinking raw milk.

Some libertarians urge their liberty movement compatriots to not talk about the nonaggression principle. These “pragmatists” think the focus should be on making the “practical” case for liberty. But those who embrace liberty because it “works” better than statism will make “exceptions” if they think an authoritarian idea like mandatory national service is a more practical way of achieving their political, economic, or social goals. Only those committed to the moral case for liberty can be counted on to defend all liberty at all times.

Copyright © 2021 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

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