Americans and Their Military: The Case for Bringing Back the Draft | TIME Ideas | TIME.com

 

Americans and Their Military: The Case for Bringing Back the Draft | TIME Ideas | TIME.com.

I disagree.

The notion that reinstating the draft would make people and politicians think twice about war operations or re-examine their relationship with military matters is a nice idea, but it’s a fool’s errand.

Having a draft would still largely affect the “regular people” – those without the clout or money to do anything about it, would be the ones drafted, while politicians and their inner circles would find ways to get themselves and their own exempt. Sorry to burst your bubble!

In considering re-evaluations of our concepts of our military, and our relationship with the military and the situation of people in the service, and how our society’s behaviors and government’s decisions affect people in the service, we are asking the wrong question and proposing non-solutions. The issues, at their core, are not that the military is understaffed, or underfunded. Yes, our society and politicians are removed from it, because not everyone is affected directly as it is a volunteer force.

But the solution to those issues does not rest in a draft, because what does a draft do but force the unwilling and, often, unprepared into a situation they don’t want to be in and may find themselves incapable of handling? How does flooding the military with forced conscripts solve anything?

Our Department of Veterans’ Affairs, not to mention our society and government, is already doing a shoddy job of taking care of those veterans that do come back from the battlefronts scarred and haunted by what they’ve seen or done.

Reinstate the draft, and you’re just asking for more people tormented by the strain of military service or combat duty.

And no, the politicians won’t “see the light,” because I will bet you anything that if they can find some loophole to avoid their children or relatives getting drafted, they’ll do it. And all on the taxpayer dime, no less.

Veterans need more than Memorial Day ceremonies

Here we are, another Memorial Day, another time to remember the many soldiers who gave their lives fighting for the United States of America.
Special ceremonies and services honoring the fallen are held in communities big and small across the nation even as you read this.

These are beautiful gestures of respect and remembrance, and I have no doubt they mean a lot to the families of those who died serving, not to mention living veterans of wars past and present. But I argue that these latter, the living veterans and soldiers, especially, and probably the many families of soldiers, need more than “just” a ceremony in their names.

Again, I’m sure they appreciate it. It’s important to them. It shows they’re not totally forgotten. But in a sense, so many veterans are.

Just reading this New York Times op-ed by ex-Marine Mike Scotti is enough to make you question whether or not we give enough consideration, or care, to veterans.

But it’s more than just that article.

Even before I interviewed one ex-Marine for a class magazine while a student at Loyola University Chicago who mentioned some of his struggles to me, I had encountered in Chicago multiple people who said they were veterans and were struggling. Homeless. I don’t know if these were truly veterans, but maybe. There was the man peddling his poetry on the CTA train, who in a fit of frustration turned around, yelled at the people in the train car who ignored him for turning a deaf ear, and showed his stomach wound. Then there was the guy who called out to me as I was leaving Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago, who had but a simple request: some food. So I took him to the little sandwich shop across the street, paid for a meal for him, and sat and listened to him talk about struggling since coming home from the Vietnam War. By then, that had been a three-decade struggle for him.

And then there was a recent newsmaker, the soldier who shot to death more than a dozen Afghan villagers in the middle of the night, who had reportedly been previously diagnosed with trauma but sent to the war yet again, anyway. In doing so, the authorities of our government and military put in danger not just those Afghan villagers, but the very men and women with whom he would be serving, as well as himself – his whole life could be ruined now.

Why don’t we care enough to look out for these people and make sure they get proper treatment, counseling and attention? Yes, to get help you must first ask for it, and for some god-awful reason asking for help remains taboo and a sign of weakness in our society. But it’s so much more than just pride (which actually does stop many people from asking for desperately-needed assistance). You don’t want to reach out, not just because you fear your hand will be swatted away, but that others will see you as weak, as a drain, as a leech, unwilling to just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and just “get over it.”

In our society, if you need help, you’re just not trying hard enough… and others think they are doing you a favor by not helping, because in their mind it reinforces individual responsibility and prevents you from becoming dependent. It’s ridiculous. It’s atrocious. It’s shameful.

Who cares that you said “thank you for your service” when you walked by the guy or girl in their military fatigues at the airport? It’s a nice gesture, but it doesn’t help, and in a way, we’re all guilty of thinking that the gesture is enough. It’s not.

And with so many people calling for government austerity as we struggle with our staggering debt, many services are undoubtedly going to be cut or reduced. We might tell ourselves that the Department of Veterans Affairs is immune to this, that we’d never cut services there. But that’s inevitable as we keep talking austerity and find ways to reduce our government spending… Let’s not forget that as summer begins, we’re already hearing news of a repeat of last year’s debt ceiling debacle, which ended in too-little, too-late as our country’s credit rating was downgraded. And with that is obviously the threat of a government shutdown. When the government shuts down, it’s not just that mail carriers will be without paychecks. A government shutdown would mean VA services would be put on hold…

And clearly, the actual level of service to veterans at the VA is still pitiful.

So is that of our society.

In a time when austerity is demanded, and people who are on some sort of government assistance are derided as lazy leeches, our veterans continue to suffer silently, alone, because they don’t want to be shamed, and their previous attempts to get help got a lukewarm reception and half-assed follow-ups.

After the ceremonies finish, we should work towards providing better services to veterans of our wars. It shouldn’t stop at just saying “thanks.” Gratitude is nice, but gratitude alone doesn’t help them put food on the table, it doesn’t help them deal with what they’ve seen and done, it doesn’t re-integrate them into society.

Instead, we say our “thank-you’s” and “goodbye’s,” and we go back to not giving a shit, to questioning the need for government services or involvement in anything. And our politicians on both sides will go back to bickering and bringing the nation to yet another potential standstill and putting on the line more than payroll but also important, if still meager, services to not just poor families but to veterans. It’s shameful.

Too often, we think ceremonies are enough.

They’re not.

‘The Dictator’ a Hit or Miss Movie and Commentary

Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest creation, The Dictator, is out in theaters now, and I have to say, it’s pretty damn funny. I think. However, I also think it’s very hit-or-miss, kind of in the pattern of his other movies – Borat and Bruno. For a lot of the same reasons.

For me, this one was a hit, but with some reservations.

First off, the soundtrack to it is amazing. I want it. I want those songs. I love Arabic music, and the sounds that come from the North Africa and Middle East regions.

“The Dictator” promotional poster (comicsagogo.com)

And the jokes, I laughed at them. Was I “laughing my ass off,” per se? No. But it was funny. They could’ve been a bit more clever. I think it definitely fell short of Borat in that area, though it’s a lot better than Bruno which was just flat-out disappointing.

Now, Baron Cohen’s skits and movies, they are kind of social commentary. Borat examines how average Americans view the rest of the world. Bruno takes a look at gay culture and its perceptions among the average American, as well. The Dictator aims at Americans’ view of dictators in faraway lands, particularly the Middle East and its people, especially in comparison to our society and its interactions with both government and other people. Coming on the heels of the Arab Spring, it is very timely (and makes references to these events, as well).

The movie was pretty funny, its plot built on those stereotypes and the titular character is a caricature of a tyrant. Because he is an autocrat who got (almost) everything he wished whenever he pleased, he has a warped sense of reality and needs to learn how to interact with ordinary people when he becomes, well, one of them. The cultural barrier also comes into play in a scene that might be offensive but at the same time is a mirror to the constant struggle of ordinary people fearing the unknown, and ordinary people from that ‘other’ struggling to just be understood.

Nevertheless, after thinking about it a bit, I realize that The Dictator is kind of a synthesis of both Borat and Bruno. On the one hand, there is some smart socio-political and economic commentary; on the other hand, there is a gross-out factor involved, as well.

Borat took that commentary aspect to the hilt in a very subtle way, which is why it was smart. It wasn’t in your face, yet if you took a quick step back, you would notice and appreciate it, and reflect on “wow, are we Americans really that dumb?” While the bit at the end with Pamela Anderson may well have been staged, much of the rest of Borat involves real people – some of whom later filed real lawsuits because they realized they looked really fucking stupid and ignorant.

Bruno had commentary, but it was lost in the gross-out-fest that it all was (or maybe I’m just more of a prude than I thought).

The Dictator has a bit of both, though because the nastier parts are just a few and pretty far between, they’re not so overpowering as they were in Bruno. The social, political and economic commentary is there.

But it’s not handled in the same subtle way as Borat – perhaps, in part, because this was all acting, as opposed to a documentary-style with some real people having real interactions.

(SPOILERS FOLLOW)

A Kansas town tries to keep the train coming through – CNN.com

And, of course, there is the romance of the rails, a romance that has somehow been able to survive all of Amtrak’s struggles — even in an era that proclaims a digital, virtual world can transport a person anywhere without that person ever leaving home. When you’re boarding a long-distance train, you are not boarding a number. You are boarding a name that sounds like an orchestral overture: the City of New Orleans; the Empire Builder; the Lake Shore Limited.

Or the Southwest Chief, bound for Garden City and points beyond.

via A Kansas town tries to keep the train coming through – CNN.com.

After having ridden the rails multiple times to visit family and friends back in Chicago, before coming back on the same train to Garden City, I say, yes, there definitely is a romance of the rails.

Somehow, it’s more than just a way of getting around, and I actually prefer travel by land when possible, as opposed to travel by air… For me, it’s more than just a matter of having more seat width and legroom in coach on the train than you would on the plane… when you get on the plane, sure, you might get there faster, but the price of that is missing out on some great vistas. On the Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, going to Chicago, you get to see sunrise in Kansas City, pass the fields that make up so much of this country, cross the Mississippi… You don’t get any of those experiences when flying.

Train travel may have its drawbacks, and things might break down or there may be delays on the tracks… but even during the many train mishaps while I was vacationing in Italy in November, the one great thing was getting to enjoy the rolling hills of Tuscany as our train sped through on our way to or from Rome. And I can’t wait to get a chance to take the Amtrak westbound and visit Los Angeles, and perhaps see some of the Rockies and deserts as well.

All that is what makes the train so magical. That’s what makes the 15-hour trip to or from Chicago worth it.

And Garden City Mayor David Crase says it best:

“I kind of enjoy listening to it,” he said. “You’ll hear that whistle, and on some days, when I have the windows open and the wind is right, I can hear the sound of the train idling at the station before it pulls out.

“It’s part of our life. And once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

ANY ONE SAYING ANYTHING SNARKY ABOUT ABC’s ROBIN ROBERTS GETTING PRES OBAMA INTERVIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE IS JEALOUS OR PETTY – OR BOTH « Gretawire

Can we journalists be honest for a second? Everybody in the media uses his connections and reputation every day of the week to get big interviews. I use every connection I have to get interviews – and so does everyone else. Anyone in the business who says anything to the contrary is lying.

I don’t know that Robin (ABC) has any greater connections than others — look at the incredible NBC access last week in the Situation Room on the Osama Bin Laden killing anniversary. And if she does have better connections, the rest of us better work harder to beat her out next time. Connections does not mean bias — it can mean respect for a history of fairness and years of hard work.

via ANY ONE SAYING ANYTHING SNARKY ABOUT ABC’s ROBIN ROBERTS GETTING PRES OBAMA INTERVIEW ON GAY MARRIAGE IS JEALOUS OR PETTY – OR BOTH « Gretawire.

I very rarely agree with Greta Van Susteren on a lot of things… but this is a great post.

I know I’d love an interview with the president, whether or not he was one I overtly supported – I mean WOW! An exclusive with the President of the United States!

Who wouldn’t? And, as she goes on to say, it’s important that for all the snarky remarks, nobody is actually criticizing the interview itself…

What matters is the interview – did she get the news or not?  And the answer is yes and that is the goal.

By the way, Robin is a very accomplished journalist with loads of experience and she showed it. 

Jobless Americans to lose unemployment benefits – May. 11, 2012

The issue of supporting the long-term unemployed, who number 5.1 million or 41% of the jobless, has split policy makers and economists. Some argue that these costly benefits need to end to spur people to find work. But others say the economy is still too weak to roll up the safety net.

“The hundreds of thousands of long-term unemployed who are being abruptly pushed off the extended benefits program are just the latest wave of jobless workers forced to survive without basic financial protections,” said George Wentworth, senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group.

via Jobless Americans to lose unemployment benefits – May. 11, 2012.

Not everybody who’s on unemployment is lazy – it’s not as easy as people think to find jobs, even now.

And anybody who knows anything should be well aware of the fact that the unemployment check helps make ends meet in these hard times, but you can’t live a lavish life off it, either. Entitlement? I think not. Necessary safety net as we struggle to keep up the economic recovery? Yes.

The Associated Press: A look at Obama promises: kept, broken, unrealized

The Associated Press: A look at Obama promises: kept, broken, unrealized.

But who’s keeping score, right?

Just a quick glance at some of President Obama’s promises and his track record with them.

I hope he’s learned that making a lot of promises might end up biting you in the ass when it turns out that, no, we don’t live in a perfect world. Otherwise, even if he wins in November, the Democrats will get whooped again in 2014 midterm elections and, perhaps 2016.

Politically polarized

My political opinion/observation of the day: Perceived idiocies, flaws and excesses of the Left push conservatives further towards the Right. Similarly, perceived idiocies, flaws and excesses of the Right push liberals further towards the Left.

That certainly has held true for me – seeing posts from people on the Right, whether on Facebook or Twitter, has frustrated me as I can’t understand their reasoning or why they think the way they do. And I find myself increasingly incapable of seeing eye-to-eye, or even trying to find their perspective.

Rather than convince me that they’ve got the right facts or ideas about things, these posts have only solidified my leftist stance.

And that’s okay. But what’s not okay is the fact that I increasingly view rightists as morons – and from what I can tell from their posts, they don’t have much nice things to say about my affiliations, either.

It’s okay to have varying opinions and political views – that’s what democratic societies and governments are all about, after all. But we’ve become so polarized that we can no longer respect those differences, and “the other guy” is always incompetent and stupid and just plain wrong. That’s pretty sad, and it’s a vicious cycle because why would I want to engage in debate with someone whose views are not only completely opposite of mine but who has already pegged me as a dumbass from the very beginning? And why should they seek any attempt at discussion with me, as well, if I’m already giving them the stink-eye and saying they’re nuts?

Respect is a two-way street, and if neither of us are able or willing to do it, then there is no hope for dialogue, and compromise is dead in the water. In dictatorships, this means nothing because the person in power can just decide whatever they want; but in representative democracies like ours, this is an easy recipe for government gridlock.

A question to pose: In an age of mudslinging wars and the demonization of anyone deemed “moderate,” is there any room in our politics and society, anymore, for the dwindling Center?

Internships: The Beginning of the End of Interns Without Wages | Moneyland | TIME.com

Internships: The Beginning of the End of Interns Without Wages | Moneyland | TIME.com.

Let me just say:

I do empathize, and I understand that it’s hard to make a living if you’re already out of college and your internship doesn’t pay squat…

And if I’m reading it correctly, it’s so wrong that Diana Wang had to pay out of her own pocket to ship things for the magazine – they should’ve footed that bill, and not her… But it doesn’t sound like she fought them on that, really. I mean $350 is not petty cash. It’s not just a quick cab ride. I’d argue for anything costing me over $25, especially if I’m unpaid. There is no evidence here that suggests she argued for compensation for company expenses.

You have to fight for what you want or deserve, sometimes… You just do – it’s not a bad reflection on you, and in fact it might even show the company that you’re not just a pushover and that you can hold your own (if you play your cards right – if you just flip out on them, you probably won’t get a job offer because they can’t work with you).

However, I think it’s ridiculous for people going into internships to just expect or actually want to spend their days fetching coffee and making photocopies. I mean the people in this article bitch about coming out with no transferable skills even after getting serious daily assignments – but what kind of a skill is it to run the coffee machine?

Maybe it’s just me, but an internship where I was nothing but an errand boy would infuriate me, and I’d want to leave as soon as possible. If I’m at an internship, I’m more than happy doing the work that entry-level employees would do, because I’m actually getting hands-on with the business (whatever it may be) and I can later say at my next job interview, “this is what my responsibilities were, this is what I did, and this is what I learned.”

Right after college, I spent months just searching for jobs before I finally decided to expand my search to local internships, paid or otherwise. By the time I nailed down a job offer, elsewhere, I was flitting around from internship to internship every day of the week. One was unpaid, another provided a small stipend for transit expenses (in fact, I actually made money on that, since public transit isn’t terribly expensive yet in Chicago), and another had per-diem compensation. But, again, when applying, I did not discriminate against the unpaid opportunities, and I knew what I was getting myself into.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I lived with my parents in Chicago, so I didn’t have to worry about rent or food. But you kind of have to be realistic about those things, especially when considering places like New York which is notorious for high costs of living. You have to know that it is a risk that you’ll blow through your savings just to eat and keep the lights on, and there is no sure guarantee of a salary at the end of the rainbow.

Regardless, an internship is what you make it. You have to be responsible and show it, you have to be ambitious and show it. Make contacts and forge relationships, and show them that you can be part of the team, and you want to be part of it.

But if you’re going in just expecting and being satisfied with doing the bitch-work, then you have no right to complain about not getting a job offer on your last day there. They can easily get someone else to get the coffee and send that fax.

Good luck.

May 3rd Constitution Day – Celebrations and Lessons

Every year on the third of May, Poland and Poles worldwide celebrate “May 3rd Constitution Day.” In addition to hanging Polish flags and banners, large emigre communities like that in Chicago hold parades the following weekend.

What we’re celebrating is the document adopted on May 3, 1791 by the Sejm, Poland’s parliament. Renowned as the world’s second constitution of its kind, it was the first in Europe to attempt a more democratic, and responsible, government for a country that sorely needed it. It was valiant, ambitious, but ultimately belated as an attempt to save Poland from being swallowed hole before the turn of the century by its neighbors, Prussia (which would go on to unite Germany), Austria and Russia.

I’m not going to go into any more of a history lesson here. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article on it if you want to learn more. (Sidebar: I know, Wikipedia is not a scholarly source, but it at least gives you a primer and has references you can look at if you want to.)

As I reflect on what this day means for Poland and my fellow Poles, I realize that what we celebrate is not the actual document itself, as the name of the holiday implies. Yes, we are proud of it as it was among the very first attempts in Europe at a constitutional democracy, and came only second after the Federal Constitution of the United States of America, and one of the examples of our strong value of liberty. But we know it was not a perfect document, so we don’t revere it.

We may call on its spirit of democracy, accountability and freedom, but it is not sacrosanct. In fact, if you read a bit of the Wikipedia article I linked above, you’ll find that it was adopted among barely-legal conspiracy and trickery.

Constitution Day in Poland. By Silar (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

But that is also a central aspect of what it means to us – knowing what needed to be done, and doing it, to try and save our nation from destruction, in as peaceful a way as possible, until time came to literally defend it with arms from its enemies. The reformers who conspired and adopted this document weren’t just trying to be mischievous; they realized that the system was broken, and they were courageous enough to ask hard questions: What is flawed? Why are these flaws there? What makes them flawed? Can they be fixed? How can we fix the flaws? How can we make our government and country better? How can we save our country?

They weren’t afraid to consider whether the status quo was broken. They weren’t afraid to change it, fix it. The system in Poland up until then was called “Golden Liberty” because it allowed the nobility a great range of freedoms and powers over even the King himself. These reformers weren’t married to it, even though it arguably benefited them just as it did those who opposed the new constitution. That takes selflessness and courage.

We could learn something from them today, here, in the United States of America.

We are taught to treat the Federal Constitution as a hallowed document that is ideal and any thought of scrapping it for a new, updated one is scorned as treason. But if the Constitution was perfect, we would have no need for amendments (including those first ten – the Bill of Rights)… and slavery would continue, women wouldn’t be allowed to vote, and so on and so forth. Other countries are not afraid to scrap their old documents for a new one that still embodies the same values, with updated language to fit with the times. Why are we?

We are married to a document. We fear changing the status quo. That just seems wrong to me, based on both the Polish and American histories and the values I’ve learned and come to adopt. If our Founding Fathers were married to the status quo, to the British monarchy… well, we wouldn’t be calling them the Founding Fathers, would we, now?

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 was defeated within two years, and Poland wiped off the world map for 123 years soon after. But the very attempt is cherished by us as a sign of our devotion to liberty and country. The authors of the constitution may have invoked traditions of old, but they ultimately looked to the future when crafting the document. It was a future that was suspended for more than a century, but it is now still a lasting source of pride and joy, and we now have a future to continue looking forward to.

Likewise, Americans must stop looking to the past as the glory days, because it wasn’t all so perfect then, either. And the Constitution is not perfect. Fortunately, our system of amendments allows revisions, but the core of the document remains a product of the late 18th century. We’re in the 21st now, and some say our government is more broken than ever due to the polarization between the two main parties. It might be time for a 21st century document to consolidate the democratic gains we’ve made since, and to help us find a way to deal with gridlock…

Because government paralysis does nobody any good, no matter what your political stripe, and it’s becoming clear that we don’t have an effective way of dealing with it anymore. It was gridlock that made Poland such easy pickings for its enemies in the late 1700s; let’s not fear change, lest we repeat those mistakes here in the U.S. in the 2000s.