Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, one of my favorite Republicans (seriously), said on the senate floor today that it was time for the country to seriously consider the possibility that the draft should be reimplemented.
Tonight, on Newsnight with Aaron Brown, Brown began his show with a comment on Hagel's speech. He made an excellent point that I had not considered before, but one that should certainly be considered. He said, and I am paraphrasing here, that a serious debate about the draft may give us an accurate indication of how the country truly feels about the war in Iraq.
Oftentimes, it is hard for an individual to really look hard at an issue until it involves the safety of their own family. Americans especially, I think, are selfish in that way. We are often not as nationalistic as we think. How many people have flags up on their houses, or on their cars, and how many of those people actually vote? Not many. There are far too many people that will say that they support the troops, but only as long as the troops are an abstraction. As soon as the government starts talking about your son, your daughter, or your family, then we start to ask serious questions. Well, this country needs to start asking hard questions. There have not been enough questions asked, and we have no one to blame for this war but ourselves. All I keep thinking is: We could have stopped this. We could have thwarted Bush's march towards war.
But we didn't. I did nothing and I am an ashamed American. What did you do? It is time to take responsibility.