By Richard E. Schiff 

There is a clear and present danger.

The United States is besieged by escaped oil from beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Already more than 50% of the Gulf is unfit for life. Yes! Unfit for Life! In uncertain terms that means Dead!

Our government is grandstanding and parading on televised hearings.
Our President finds himself the head of a totally dysfunctional behemoth of red tape and crony inefficiency that makes his every gesture futile and foolish.

Meanwhile we are suffering the tragic loss of our troops in our Afghan enterprise in mounting numbers, while voices from the Command say things are regressing. Our flag raising victories are made foolish by the hesitance of liberated Afghan populations to embrace the bill of goods we are peddling, returning conquered territory to the enemy, and our dead to have died in vain. That is a sin and should be a crime..

We depend on our bases in Uzbekistan to service the troops in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is now in turmoil with the uprising in neighboring micro nations. 

Turkish relations are being destroyed by Israeli over anxiety, and murderous reactions. Turkey being important to any future we have in mid-east relations.

Korea is threatening to turn into a full fledged dog faced soldier’s war, like it was in the early 50’s. That would require Universal Conscription and that will bring turmoil to this society so unused to service to country as it now is.

When I was young a young man knew when he turned 18 he was very likely to be drafted in the This Man’s Army. When the Vietnam Conflict got hot no extraordinary measures had to be taken to fill the Armed Forces and send millions of men to war.  

During the late 1960’s young men and women were taken from the unemployment roles through Enlistment in The Peace Corps, and other Civilian Service Organizations extant during Lyndon Johnson’s "War on Poverty". Even then many argued that we should all be forced to sacrifice more, as did my parent’s generation who suffered food and gas rationing through WWII and Korea.  

I lived to experience gas and sugar rationing during the Carter administration. There have been times when Americans all shared the same sacrifice to overcome an obstacle of National Concern. 

Right now there is no expanded force of Americans ready to man the enormous task presented by the Disaster on the Gulf Coast and there has never been more reason to dust off the Selective Service Bureau and start their computers sending draft notices to all able bodied men and women over the age of 18.

Universal Conscription to United States Service is not enlistment in the Military. That is where the selectivity occurs. Many people are not equipped to carry weapons against our foreign enemies, however this does not disqualify them from serving in a capacity they can readily fill, in the vast array of needs in this nation today. This allows for all people from every walk and expression in life to serve their nation in this critical time of war on many fronts.  

It would be less costly to employ men and women in the Service to their Country than to support them in the civilian world through entitlements and / or charities. Further, it would provide a sober maturation for the young, much required to deal with the real world scenarios outlined at the start of this assertion.

The problems we face are mammoth in proportion to the 19^th century manner in which our politics deals with them. We can overcome our enemies and make all the changes we need to see we are free at the end of the road from continued involvements in seemingly interminable enterprises and catastrophes.

If all we have is dysfunctional cronies running all our national, state and local agencies, lets get them enough young blood in uniform to overcome their shortcomings and make the United States Victorious on All Fronts!