commentary by Wayne Allyn Root

[spatne]

Well the military does entice a lot of people who can't afford college and have few other options. Rangel in no way means to insult these people; in fact, he's sticking up for them by pointing out that the people with the power to wage war rarely have to be bothered with the consequences. They don't have sons and daughters who feel compelled to enlist just to get an education or otherwise have a career. And that parts of our society (often poor and/or rural and/or uneducated and/or minority young people) are forced to bear a disproportionately large chunk of the human cost of war.

It's an indictment of the system rather than the soldier, and it's not unique to the U.S. or our military. Poor men die fighting rich men's battles all over the world and that's a truly awful truth. One thing that makes me skeptical of going back to a draft is that rich congressmen will always find ways to keep their kids tucked away somewhere. Texas National Guard anyone? I hear that attendance is optional.

At any rate, YMMV. Feel free to take the last word on this one (I'd look forward to it, actually), but I'll just agree to disagree on this one.