Why I burned my draft card.
1973 I took my draft card and burned it on the steps of city hall in New York City during an antiwar protest. Yes, I am vehemently antiwar. I believed then as I do now that war is the second worse possible thing this nation or any nation could partake. There is no ambiguity in war. People will die no matter what you do or how you try to limit the deaths.
There are only three reasons for war, to take what your nation can not earn on its own. To force an ideology you believe is best for others. Finally, because your nations leader is stupid and wants to have a war to prove manhood.
The war of 1812 and WWI were wars to prove manhood.
The Spanish American war, WWII, and the two Gulf wars were wars to steal what could not be achieved their own.
The Cold War, Korea and Vietnam were to force ideology on others.
Peace is the goal of most people in the world.
A strong nation is the key to world peace. When Rome was a military nation no one messed with them. A Roman citizen could walk the earth and if anyone tried to rob or hurt the person all the man would have to say is, “I am a citizen of Rome.” The attacker would stop and apologize. It was simple back then, you hurt a Roman citizen for any reason, and the Roman army would hunt you down and crucify you. If they could not find the robber they would line up the people of that nation and decimate them. Crucifixion I think you understand. Decimation is not as well known it means people are lined up in rows and every tenth person would be killed. Knowing those were you only two options people left the Romans alone. Rome became a kinder and gentler nation. This was perceived as weakness and Rome fell. They outsourced their army and could not defend themselves. Peace ended for Rome.
England ruled the waves. As long as England had a strong army and navy no one messed with England. The beginning of the end of England was the terrorist in the colony of the Americas. These Americans broke all the rules of nations demanding that people have the right of self-determination; this was unheard of back then. America did not have a king that ruled by fiat, instead it was ruled like old Rome without an emperor. Since power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely America made a slight change from Roman style rule by splitting the power between three branches of government. No one person could rule and getting all three branches to agree on stupid things is impossible. America spent most of its time ignoring Europe and their inbred royalty by building a nation of individuals.
The ideological civil war which was not civil at all and Vietnam are the only wars America initiated. The Spanish American war is still a gray area. Vietnam was a war started by the communist and the French. Since we refused to help the French in Vietnam, when President Eisenhower was in office, relations were damaged between the two nations. President Kennedy in order to repair relations with France that Eisenhower damaged; he initiated the war with Vietnam. This was escalated by President Johnson and only ended when Nixon was elected to office. Until then we had peace and prosperity in the nation. We were conned into WWI and dragged kicking and screaming into WWII. We were a strong nation then and feared and respected by most of the world including our enemies. The Korean conflict, (not really a war because it was not declared by Congress) and though it has been raging for the last 50+ years we have not found a peaceful end to this conflict. U. S. military personnel are still being killed there every year.
My conclusion is that although burning my draft card was a good symbolic act of protest against a foolish war. It did not make me any safer. What has made America and me safe has always been a strong military. When Reagan was President he enacted an executive order that kept us safe for decades. It was similar to the Roman rules to safeguard its citizens. During those last four year of his presidency Mr. Reagan let the military loose on any threat around the world. This was continued by President Bush 41, any and all terrorist threats against Americans were answered by really rude reprisals that never made it to the news media. President Clinton ordered that operation closed when he took office. Americans were safe for the most part once word got out that terrorist were not dying but disappearing around the world. We became a kinder gentler nation and we were attacked again. Every time we as a nation have shown weakness to our enemies we have ended up in a war.
My conclusion is war is good. Give war a chance. It has never failed in our 230 year history. Every time we have taken half steps and gone soft on our enemies we have ended up being attacked. The last attack was 11 September 2001 the first attack was in 1978 We have been at war 23 years and we have not bothered to show up to fight it except for the last three years.
In Korea we won and then stopped. In Vietnam we won but would not finish the war. In the Gulf war we won and again did not finish it. In the second Gulf war we won and now we are looking at pulling out. Each time we have gotten attacked worse than the last time.
I burned my draft card to protest killing. More people have died from not fighting war than fighting one. Because we did not stop Chancellor Hitler when he started his cheap trash we had 25 million civilians’ dead. Because we did not stop Ho Chi Min 30 million civilians’ died in South East Asia. Because in 1979 we did not stop Khomeini 50 million civilians’ have died.
Peace without strength costs innocent lives. The current enemy says that we are at war. The current enemy says victory will be when an Islamic flag flies over the White House and all nations are Muslim. These idiots are serious! At the same time we have North Korea kicking up dust because we failed to end that war. I want my draft card back!
