Don't Support the Troops by Brandon J. Snider
It’s easy for libertarians to dislike politicians, but not so easy for them to dislike GI Joe. We hold brutal killers like John Wesley Hardin or Charles Manson in the lowest regard, but the difference between these killers and military troops is semantic and symbolic. It’s time to address the issue of the troops with the brutality it richly deserves. It’s time to deconstruct the myth of the glorious military adventure. It’s long past time we shame people who think about military service. Perhaps then fewer young people will throw their lives away. "Kill the head and the body will die" is a truism that many libertarians no doubt use to justify their attitudes towards the troops. But the supply of troops and the attitudes regarding them is also a key. Shame people into refusing to join and the supply of cannon fodder will atrophy to the point where foreign adventures will not be possible without a draft. Will the populace accept a draft? I have an idea that a draft at this point would be the same as poking a sleeping grizzly bear with a stick. Try it, just try it.


- posted by SARTRE @ 6:30 AM