"One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America not just the poor kids who get sent to war are serving this country," he said.
Someone want to clue me in on this? From where I stand, this sounds like grade-A horseshit. Military service should be voluntary, period. I understand his frustration that the poor are over-represented in the armed forces, but surely there has to be a better solution than a return to what amounts to the draft.
Some people might think that these kinds of suggestions are just political bluster, or brinksmanship designed to "put the cost of the war into perspective." Maybe they are. Either way, I would prefer not to be a pawn in a politician's political strategery.
Haven't we learned by now that if we give our politicians hammers in the form of huge standing armies, the world starts to look like a big ol' nail?
Update: Wow! Lots of comments for such a short diary.
Sadly, many of the comments accuse me of being dishonest, stupid, intentionally obtuse, or of having some sort of anti-Edwards agenda. While I might very well be stupid, I am not pushing any sort of candidate-support agenda, and certainly would not use dishonesty to do so.
In its original form, the link in the article was broken. It isn't anymore, so hopefully that will put some of the more openly hostile critics to rest on that point.
Many have chimed in that Edwards could not be talking about military service here, and that he has a specific "national service" plan that involves something akin to mandatory community service. BruceMcF's post is one among many that illustrates that point. Personally, I can't stomach the idea of any sort of mandatory service, so perhaps that's why my initial reaction to this article was so visceral, and my inclination was to jump to the extreme conclusion.
That said, I am not prepared to concede that he was not talking about military service at all. Absent a specific quote on this specific statement, it will be difficult for me to ignore the apparently damning context in which he made the statement. If he had wanted to, he could have specifically dismissed the possibility that he was referring to any sort of military service--that he didn't is not conclusive to me, but it does carry some weight.
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