Getting It Right- Would Having A Mandatory Draft Be Good For Our Nation?

June 5, 2008

I believe the positives outweigh the negatives in this issue.
This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
Our current military efforts in the Middle East and around the world are being manned through a volunteer army and the support provided by national guard units and state militias forced into active duty. In my opinion these guys are performing wonderfully and are getting the job done.
If we do not really have to have a draft in order to fulfill the current military requirements, why should we even consider having a forced draft for young Americans? We have not had a draft since the lottery style draft used during the Vietnam War in the 1960’s. Some nations such as Israel have a mandatory military obligation in effect. Even the Mormon Church expects two years of service to the church from its youth at age 19. Is it too much for our great nation to ask?
In my opinion a forced military draft would be good for our nation. Not on the basis of our military needs, but instead on the basis of the social needs of our country. First, I believe that every able bodied American should be willing to devote two years to the service of the nation. Just as we have an obligation to be productive, tax paying, involved citizens….we also should have an obligation to work on behalf of our collective American society for two years of our life.
I believe this would have a tremendous positive social impact on our population. The "military experience" would provide a level of needed personal development, maturity, and instilled disciplines that would help fill the role of missing fathers and dysfunctional families. It would provide an added level of educational and social development onto our national educational processes. Additionally, I believe it would increase the level of national pride and patriotism in our youth, a much needed and diminishing element of our society.
The youth involved in this draft would have the opportunity to serve with the regular Army, or to be part of a special Civil Army Corps that would be used for homeland needs. The Civil Army would be used for such functions as sealing and guarding our borders to stop the inflow of illegal aliens, airport and utilities security, ports inspections and security to support customs inspections, disaster assistance and clean-up, public construction projects, and social programs assistance such as food distribution, homeless care centers, and youth mentoring programs. The Civil Corps would function in a manner similar to the CCC of the depression era, except it would be directed into different venues of service.
After completion of the two years of required service, the individual would be offered the opportunity to reenlist into the regular Army, or to separate and go into private life. If the decision is made to return to private life, the veteran would be awarded modified veterans benefits which would enable him/her to enter college or vocational training at no cost. Thus the draft would help make up for some of the educational failures of the public school systems.
I strongly believe that this draft-obligation approach would accomplish much for our ailing nation, would strengthen the character of our society, and would provide higher levels of scholastic and skills development for our work force. I would hope that somewhere there are politicians in power that have the foresight and strength of character needed to overcome political resistance to this type of suggestion.
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning
♦ Some Bureaucrats are Learning How To Manage To Save Money Instead of Managing To Spend Money
The reduction in revenues that are resulting from the general slow down of the economy and the depression in the housing and construction industries is creating a new experience for some bureaucrats. They are actually beginning to think about ways to cut costs, reduce waste, and improve efficiency. Please note I said "some" instead of "all".
Some feel that government should always continue to expand in size and services. They see this as adding to our quality of life instead of diminishing it through taking away our disposable income through taxation. Some do not realize the existing plight of many families. They would rather tax the families in order to have money to re-carpet the library or some other government service related expenditure instead of allowing the family to keep their money so they can afford gasoline and milk.
Many are continuing to spend as usual, still confident that the ever-flowing geyser of tax dollars will never cease to fund their every desire. Many State agencies are continuing to shovel our grants for "nice to have" projects instead of only funding absolutely essential projects.
I saw on television where the Bay County School System is enacting some policies designed to reduce unnecessary costs. One example is the elimination of duplicate bus runs for middle school and high school students by altering the school schedules by thirty minutes. This change supposedly will save over $600,000 per year in reduced bus usage. Another change is to completely shut down all school buildings during the summer break, spring break, and other significant breaks in the schedule. Apparently they had been leaving the utilities running because a few people were working during those times. By shutting down completely over $300,000 in utilities costs will be eliminated.
These cost reduction actions are good, and I am glad to see some officials beginning to worry about wasting funds. However, I can not help but ask.."why were these things not already being done? I can assure you that a profit minded business would never have allowed these wasteful practices to exist. Also, I wonder if the Jackson County School System is doing these things….
♦ Is Our County Really Reacting To Revenue Shortfalls?
In this issue of the Jackson County Times on page A5 we are showing the permit applications filed for the month of May. If you will note, there was actually only one commercial new construction (with the School Board Permits omitted), and only ten new houses were built in the entire month. This level of new construction is approximately 40% of the activity we had before the existing slow down occurred.
As a result, the income from permits has fallen dramatically. This also means that the departmental workload has also fallen by a corresponding amount. This logically leads to the question….what are the inspectors and planners doing with their spare time? Have the department heads adjusted the departmental staffing because of the lack of workload, or has the staff been kept at the same level? Are they doing things to "make work", are they harassing the few projects we have even more than normal since they don’t have much to do, or are they learning how to play championship level checkers?
In quest of answers to this question I contacted Larry Carnley who is head of the Inspection Department. He came up with several reasonable answers that I feel obligated to include in this discussion. He stated that some of the large projects currently underway from previous permitting have created a large, ongoing workload for his group. These would include the new 80 unit low income housing project on South Street, the prison expansion in Graceville, and the Green Circle Project south of Cottondale. He also said his department has always been one man short of its allocated staff.
This makes sense, and I yield and give him the benefit of the doubt. However, if things stay this slow, and those projects are completed…we should all be watching what happens.
♦ Roads and Bridges: I commend the County Commissioners for their quick reaction to the increased fuel costs in this department. Several weeks ago they went to a four day, ten hour schedule. This reduces road time and fuel expenses to and from work sites. A wise, frugal move by our Board.
♦ Wal-Mart Building: Well, another month has passed and we have paid another month’s rent to all of those landlords we are renting space from for county functions.
Well, it’s time to close. I hope you have a good week, and are talking to our officials about these issues every chance you get. Keep it up and you will be "Getting It Right".