During this time of moral crisis, with a war on our hands and an utter lack of confidence in our leaders at home, what we need is a draft.
Yes, a draft. You and I both heard New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel's public statement in favor of conscription - and I, for one, am all in favor of it.
I guess that many of you (at least the men) hurriedly considered changing your address to throw the Selective Service System off your trail. Others might be making contingency plans to flee to Canada or Mexico.
I, however, am going to send Congressman Chuck a thank you note. Finally - for the first time ever, perhaps - a congressman has said something I've already been saying for a long time.
Universal conscription does not mean we're paving the road to nationalism and militarism; rather, a draft is the means for creating a little bit of justice in our greatly crooked nation.
A universal draft is the only just way of distributing the costs of war equally among the citizens of this country.
That's why, while Rangel advocated conscription for military service or alternative service in the national interest, I am prepared to demand universal conscription into our armed forces.
In the Iraq war, soldiers from the mostly poor rural areas accounted for twice as many casualties as their counterparts from wealthier urban areas.
Last year, historically black colleges and universities graduated six times more ROTC students than did the Ivy League schools.
These statistics, and more, reveal the ways that marginalized populations are affected in greater ways than the privileged. When our nation's elected leaders see their children as potential amputee victims of improvised explosive devices or artillery, the rush to war will not be so quick and with such little foresight.
With their children as cannon fodder, congressmen will never again overwhelmingly pass authorization of force for a war that has compromised our security.
Never again will our government allow ideologues of either party to determine how military force will be applied.
And in the case that war is unavoidable, a possibility we must admit, a universal draft will ensure that the impoverished, the black, the Latino and the American Indian populations would not bear a disproportionate burden during war.
Standing next to a poor kid from Compton, Calif., or a border town would be Bill Frist's son or Nancy Pelosi's daughter. War for a noble and necessary cause will be a collective sacrifice - the sacrifice of white and black, rich and poor, blue-collar and white-collar.
Some might question the value of sending all our young men and women to the armed forces if the goal is peace. Well, those soldiers will learn valuable life lessons simply unavailable to most of the 18- to 22-year-olds today.
They will learn the value of hard work, the importance of building relationships with people from other walks of life and the skills to take part in successful careers.
Of course, if we are going to ask for several years of service from our nation's youth, we must provide them with some compensation. When all these kids complete their service they will be given free higher education, free health care and automatic citizenship for those who don't have it already.
Then, universal conscription will not only provide justice in war, but the social justice we lack as well.
Alex Ginsburg is a religious studies senior ready to sign on the dotted line. Anti-war activists may send their hate mail to: Alexander.Ginsburg@asu.edu.
