Especially with folks of my parent's generation who remember the days of ole' Vietnam all to well, who react so immediately and so emotionally to any mention of "Draft", I have for some time argued strongly for the absolute need for a draft in order to ensure that situations like THIS don't ever ever happen again. Mandatory National Service for every man and woman of age in this country. In needs to happen. It would solve soooo many problems. Read on.
Jefferson and Hamilton were passionate proponents of the need for mandatory National Service.
Thomas Jefferson first suggested that we not have a standing army, and wrote a series of letters in 1787, as the Constitution was being debated, urging James Madison and others to write it into the Constitution.
The idea was, instead of a standing army, for every able-bodied man in the nation to be a member of a local militia, under local control, with a gun in his house. If the nation was invaded, word would come down to the local level and every man in the country would be the army.
Switzerland has such an army, and many have suggested it's one reason why Hitler never tried to invade this neighbor.
An armed and well-regulated militia of THE PEOPLE. Mandatory education in basic military knowledge. Service expected out of EVERYONE. If you have moral objections to anything to do with military and guns, then national service programs as the Peace Corps can really use your help. Get out there, get off your cloistered American clueless ass, get out into the World and have a bit of experience on what some call "Reality".
Virtually no-one, no-one at all in this country, (and we all know this don't we) has much of a concept on what the realities of the world outside of our borders are. This is worst expressed in those coming out of our public education system. Ignorant, absolutely cluess, cognitively impaired, brainwashed and stupified. Show them the horrors of war on a TV and they gloss over. They've already seen that show!
Get these kids off their asses. Get them some real world education. Put them in a position to help, to lend aid to the stricken, to promote an image of America that is of service, not arrogant ass-headedry.
Implement a National Draft. Mandatory minimum two years of service for every 18-24 year old. Military or Peace Corps (or something new). SERVE, damn-it. It is what makes a "global village" function on a healthy level. SERVICE. SERVICE FOR OTHERS.
I rant. )sigh(