Reply #38: Alright. Your points: [View All]

[EstimatedProphet]

1) Yeah, Bush doesn't give a rat's ass what we think. So why protest? Why do anything? Actually, I think that's a good point. However, the draft isn't about convincing Bush of anything. It's about stripping away his Repub support. Right now it doesn't cost the Repubs much to keep supporting Bush. They need some more encouragement to quit.

2) That's right, the Repubs won't go for it. Thing is, unlike an impeachment, we won't need them. We can pass a draft bill ourselves without having that pesky 66 votes to convict thing. And if we pass it, and Bush (of course) vetoes it, we can start yelling about how he doesn't support the troops, and that he would rather keep overextending the troops already there in a losing situation than actually put forth the effort to make things better.

3) No argument there. I'm more concerned about the support from the 'base', who are suddenly going to have to actually really sacrifice, rather than buy another fucking ribbon.

4) In this case, the situation is entirely different than Vietnam. It would be a lot closer to bringing about the draft in 1972, as a comparison. The reason it would be effective just as a suggestion, is because we are close to getting somewhere on the situation now, and a draft would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. For comparison, there is no way I would have supported the idea of a draft in 2003.

5) The rich kids aren't the ones that will be the most effective in changing the course. It's the average American that we need to wake up from complacency. Face it, the average person hasn't been asked to sacrifice for this travesty other than buying a ribbon and paying more for gas. Look how pissed of people are just about the gas situation. Now imagine that their son or (especially) their daughter is suddenly going to be called up, and they'll go through the roof. That's why the Repubs will never let it get passed. But in not passing it, they will hang themselves like never before. If they defeat the measure, we can brand them as traitors, we can start questioning why it is that the most powerful nation in the world is being beaten back by a force of semi-literate peasants (as we have painted them in the media), we can start making the point that Bush has put us in a war which is a sham, since if it were a real situation we would be acting more seriously, etc.