US Representative, Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is at it again. Rangel's prescription for fixing the ills we're feeling in Iraq is a draft . I have very mixed feelings about this. Conscription is conscription no matter what you choose to label it. Is that appropriate in a free country? On the flip side of this coin, I've often thought that compulsory national service would be a great idea for American kids right out of high school. It might have been a better start for me than learning to down beer at a Liberal Arts university! Two years in the service might give kids time to think about their future, learn higher levels of responsibility, and begin to take life more seriously. There are many countries who require some level of mandatory military service: Belarus, Chile, China, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Iran, Lebanon, our neighbor Mexico, and our old buddy Germany, to name a few. Gee, now that I look at that partial list... aren't many of those countries Socialist or at battl...
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But the fact that such a system in which government subsidizes business is referred to as "capitalism."
The United States long ago abandoned capitalism for neo-mercantilism... a system which our ancestors fought, bled and died to escape from in our war to secede from England.
neo-Mercantilism as practiced in America can be best described by referring to the words and deeds of men like Hamilton, Clay and the tyrant Lincoln...
When Lincoln first entered state politics in 1832 he announced that he was doing so for three reasons: To help enact the Whig Party agenda of protectionist tariffs, corporate welfare subsidies for railroad and canal-building corporations ("internal improvements"), and a government monopolization of the nation’s money supply. "My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman’s dance," he declared: "I am in favor of a national bank . . . the internal improvements system, and a high protective tariff." He was a devoted mercantilist, and remained so for his entire political life. He was single-mindedly devoted to Henry Clay and his political agenda (mentioned above), which Clay called "The American System."
I find that I still have a hard time remembering that our markets are not free. I'm struggle quite often to remember that the Civil War was the result of a complete flushing of the Constitution by Honest Abe, even while other countries peacefully stopped the practice of slavery.
I have been a Republican my entire life and have voted in every election since I was of age to vote. It's a bitter pill to swallow when the man revered by Republicans showed a total disregard for the Constitution.
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate all the enlightenment I can get as I continue to evolve in my understanding of our Constitution and our history.