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bunch of cowards. nothing more. Hardly worth the publicity they get.

Oh no, it was so brave of them to run away! They were just standing up for what they believe in by well, running from the consequences. They believed the war was so wrong, that instead of taking and taking from this country and then maybe giving back or at least accepting the consequences of not giving back (jail), they'd move to Canada and wait for Carter. And I'm sure if the draft is ever reinstated, There will be mass pilgrimages from Canada to some sort of monument for Carter in hopes that they will be pardoned and be able to come back and keep taking, and taking, and taking. It has nothing to do with being SCARED to go to war.... No concern for physical wellbeing. They're just making a point.

Please. I get so tired of that. If you're gonna make a point and have it work, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE works much better than just plain running away. Let them arrest you. Worked for ghandi, MLK, and yes, even the all-mighty Margaret Sanger, so why are you too chicken to stay and act like an adult?

Rant done.

Comparing these cowards to Ghandi and Martin Luther King only trivializes the achievements of Ghandi and MLK, who deserve much better than to be compared to the worst kind of cowardice and dishonor.

yes. sorry, I'm bad at point-making and need an interpereter with half a brain (any male will do) to interperet my no brained statements to someone with a brain (like a female). jk, jk.

but they say they're proving a point and taking a stand for pacifism and it sickens me. If this is all the world has to offer in the way of passive resistance and human rights, I say we don't deserve peace or human rights.

I mean, don't get me wrong. what I am about to say is based on the belief that someone is so opposed to death, he or she can't even help in an office somewhere.

If this person were to refuse the draft but accept jail and be branded for life as a coward, have that on his or her record, accept it, and not run away from it....that's taking a stand. That's what it is, truly making a point involves sacrifices and risks, it involves being willing to look at three alternatives....give in and go against your moral grain, fight it and risk going through hell on earth just to stick to your beliefs, or running away.....and picking the middle one. If you give in and go, fine, you're like many other people. Nothing wrong with that, and it's admirable that you didn't run away. If you fight, it takes guts. It takes strength, determination, and true beliefs. If you run away, it takes cowardice and selfishness. When you dodge the draft, someone else goes in your place. They need to fill 20 men. If you're number 20 and you run away, someone will be taken in your place and possibly die while you are away on a beach sipping margaritas(or out in woods in Canada building a snowman or launching a waterballoon over the US border in some form of protest that only you can understand) and waiting for Jimmy Carter.

Can you tell I haven't much love for him?

we won't go back to the draft. We can't. Well we can, but if we did, it'd be.....wow that scared me figuring that out ebcause he's gonna win. The polls among the troops have an over 50% lead Bush. Why would they go back voluntarily under a president they didn't trust? These spots plus the additional 40,000 spots Kerry wants will need to be filled. What better way to fill it? I think that peace will be our undoing, looking at this because we'll pull out if we can't get enough troops and then well, we'll never go to war again and they'll all be sure of it and....I can wear a nice hat that says Don't blame me, I wanted to vote for Bush.


They say CO is hard to get. Eh. Jimmy Carter for everyone.

The thing about draft-dodging is...when they fill my place with someone, and that person dies....is it fair that for dying for their country had to happen so I could go on a Canadian vacation for a few years, or even my whole life? Not even go to jail, not even apologize, not even let his or her family see the exact person who made the country have to call on their child or sibling or w/e and to have him punished for fighting for what this country gives us? Because I didn't believe in it? I'd go to jail. I'd let them kill me if I truly opposed the war. I would want that family to at least be able to have a face to hate and not a nameless statistic, a president who's only crime was defending our country, no matter how much I might disagree with it...some people still disagree with going to war in ww2, but was FDR wrong? To some, yes, to some no, neither one is catholicly right. I want them to blame the person they should, the person responsible for their loved one going to war.

Damn hippies. They think that just because a war is against their morals and their pacifism that they have some right to not be forced to go kill others and get themselves killed.

I wouldn't blame the people who avoided the draft for the draft. Seems a bit on the silly side, to me. I know, I know, the government can do no wrong and if they say a draft is patriotic, the only American thing to do would be to sacrifice your sons, right? Right. Good. Now say the pledge again like a good girl.

I don't honestly know how we got to talking about the draft, but anyone who actually agrees with such a system should consider joining up with a dictatorship. Your right to live is allll yours .. until we need some moving meat-mounds on the battlefield. Then you're fair game. As it is, I seriously doubt either candidate will start a draft.

Oh, and you say that if you avoid the draft, you owe jailtime to the family who did sacrifice a member. I agree. In fact, I think that the government officials who have sent young men away to die against their will should be in for life. After all, if I'm responsible for someone else getting the draft slot that was assigned to me, the ultimate criminal would be the government which assigned me that position in the first place.

I value my family's lives more than government-appointed honor. That is why I would support anyone in my family that would leave the country in the draft, granted they were denied a CO.

lot of that going on.


And if the case is that whoever instatest he draft should be punished, well, does that take FDR off the list of great presidents? My point is that a war is never right or wrong globally. Some will feel it's justified, many won't. Heck, if we had the media coverage in ww2 that we have today, we wouldn't have gone even when Japan bombed us. I'm predicting a world war in this case, and I might be wrong, but I don't think I am. It's history repeating itself. Heh, I think if you vote for Bush but Kerry wins, you should be exempt from the draft blaugh I hate drafts. They're not bringing them back unless it's necessary, but consider this.

Polls among troops are BUSH preferred by such a large percentage. Those are voluntary troops. Why would they reinlist under a president who they didn't trust? That slashes back on the military (without even cutting costs, though I'm sure that's going to happen. God Kerry scares me. If he'd had his way back in the Reagan administration, there would have been a nuclear freeze on our side, leaving the soviet union free to attack without worrying about being counterattacked. He always appeases, and that scares me. it's history all over again, and world war two was bad enough. It was horrible then, but...it's happening again.

If I dodge the draft, someone goes in my place, someone who gives back to their country for what their country has done for him or her, and if they die, the family should not blame the president. They should blame the draft dodgers. Losing someone you love and then having people who escaped by running away and then coming back later and saying, well, time to start using that government funding again..... If I opposed the war and got drafted and really, firmly opposed the war, I would not dare run away. My morals wouldn't let me. My conscience wouldn't let me run and hide and wait for other people to make it safe for me to come back again. I'd go to jail. I'd pay the price for sticking to my beliefs. THAT is making a stand. Running is just that, running. If I opposed the war enough to dodge the draft, hell I'd even be alright if they killed me for it. It's not about what I think. It's not about me. It's about what's best for society. When it comes down to it, I would never put myself in front of others. I couldn't. I don't now. I won't then. I could never refuse the country that's given me so much. I would doubt them, I would question them, but I'd go, why? Because they have more information about what's going on than the public will ever know, or if they know, it'll come out 50-100 years later in history books. I don't trust blindly. That'd be stupid. But I do have faith in my government (wow, and me living so close to DC....I should know better by now xp ) and they should have faith in me. But I"m just like that, I'd do anything it took to do the right thing, at least, I'm pretty sure. I'd hope so. The problem with history is we look at it in retrospect and know the outcome and know, well, this was justified because of x,y, and z. Most of America didn't even believe concentration camps existed until we went in, even then many of them didn't believe it until it was over and people with numbers in their arms started coming here. It was not a justified war then. No one felt it was justified until Pearl Harbor, for the US to get involved I mean, many felt it was unjustified after that, but 2/3 of the men who went to war were drafted. They went even when they didn't agree. They listened to their country's call. Propaganda was spread to raise morale. It was really happening, but until we went, it was just a fairy tale to us, it wasn't real, they were just making it up. Eh. I hate history. it keeps repeating itself.