July 11, 2005
Influence
It is common knowledge that whatever the recruitment enticements, we’re facing a military manpower meltdown. The fact often gets people talking about, dare I mention it, The Draft. Yet, even the slightest hint of nationwide conscription lurking ever so faintly behind the usual curtain of denial can drive elected officials bananas.
Somebody asked in an op-ed piece in the NY Times why our president, with all his increasingly vacuous “stay the course,” but keep-on-shopping clarion, doesn’t broaden his message to encourage young Americans to serve in all areas where their country needs them and also for more of us of all ages to get serious about facing sacrifices. I wondered why not, myself, remembering his proud and unhesitating boasts and encouragement that any “C” student can become president of the United States. (Whether or not that increased college enrollment, it, for sure, discouraged a lot of faculty working hard to inspire a civil curiosity for learning among their students.)
On the other hand, the steady Iraqian depletion of such military resources as the National Guard obviously makes it now no longer so comfortably attractive a berth as perhaps once it was. Little wonder the president can’t as well so freely recommend that route as a way, perhaps, to become Commander-in-Chief.