Over the weekend, I remembered a quote made by Ronald Reagan, the single individual most responsible for the fall of communism. Love him or hate him, it's hard to deny his place in history. I've done a bit of searching on the interwebs, but so far have been unable to find the exact quote that's on my mind. So, paraphrased, as best I can remember it..."Conscription makes us no better than that which we oppose: the oppressive communist system of the Soviet Union."
In my search however, I did find this Reagan quote from 1979...
"America was founded on the principle of individual liberty — that the government exists to serve, not enslave, the people. Yet conscription is a form of slavery, a horrible and costly exception to America’s founding principle. It is morally repugnant to the ideals of a free society.
Without the draft, unpopular wars are very difficult to fight. The ability to use conscription actually encourages politicians to wage even more wars — the massive resources are a temptation that is hard for the war-lover to resist. When the draft was finally undermined in the 1970s, for example, the Vietnam War ended."
Food for thought...and a stark contrast to patriocentricity.
It is morally repugnant to the ideals of a free society.
ReplyDeleteGo, Gipper!
Ah. Lewis, I have had a rough day of coming face to face with how deep the heartbreak I caused my daughter during my days of Earnestly Trying To Be The Ideal Christian Home School Mom.
Now I can see that it was all one big work of the flesh, but at the time the Christian book industry/Christian home school circuit preachers/Christian radio political machine were all urging me on! Buy this book, follow this rule, establish this habit!
Not only was I convinced that I was making my own life a sacrifice acceptable to God, I had conscripted my children to join my quest. So I was not only trying to establish my own righteousness, but that of my children as well.
And yet there is only one who makes righteous, who is also our sanctification and it is not me! Only the Lord Jesus calls and saves and sanctifies our hearts.
If I could do it over, I would focus a lot more on simply living MY life right. I would do much less preaching to my children and a lot more loving, laughing and living with my children. So much precious time wasted.
Was it St. Francis of Assisi who said "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words only when necessary."? Wise words, those.
I appreciate your thoughts, shadowspring. You speak from experience on the issue. It's a valuable commodity. We can only pray that more parents can see through the mental fog that Christian Islam creates and shift their focus to LIVING Christ.
ReplyDeleteThis part of Reagan's quote above really struck me...
"Without the draft, unpopular wars are very difficult to fight. The ability to use conscription actually encourages politicians to wage even more wars — the massive resources are a temptation that is hard for the war-lover to resist."
The cultural war that Christian Islam is fighting couldn't be resourced without conscription. No one would care except for a few paranoid men, and a few advantageous men. They grow and conscript their own resources (who are powerless to resist) to fight a war that, in reality, only they see as necessary...and they fight it in defiance of a moral "Geneva convention", not to mention on the wrong battleground. Their families suffer many casualties as a result of their forced spiritual boot camps, propaganda, and indoctrination programs.
I hope people will read this excellent post on your blog...
ReplyDeletehttp://shadowspring-lovelearningliberty.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-christian-home-school.html