Bill Maher's HBO show is on hiatus 'til August but they went out with a terrific "New Rules" segment on the last episode. You can read the whole thing here but let me just post a couple of paragraphs from the middle where it really began to get good…
New Rule: The people in America who are most in favor of the Iraq war must now go there and fight it. The Army missed its recruiting goal by 42% last month. More people joined the Michael Jackson Fan Club. "We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit." And now we need warm bodies. We need warm bodies like Paula Abdul needs…warm bodies!
Now, I know you're thinking, but, Bill, I already do my part with the "Support Our Troops" magnet I have on my Chevy Tahoe. How much more can one man give? Well, here's an intriguing economic indicator. It's been over a year since they graduated, but neither of the Bush twins has been able to find work. Why don't they sign up? Do they hate America or just freedom in general?
I don't think this is as silly as some might have it. I knew a lot of people who were utterly gung-ho for the Vietnam War until it touched their lives in some way. Before a loved one was drafted, it was the duty of Young Americans to go and fight and maybe die over there. Once there was even the chance that one of those Young Americans might not be a total stranger — maybe even (gasp) a family member — the war was wrong, sending men to maybe die in it was wrong, et cetera, et cetera…
I could absolutely respect a consistent pro-Vietnam War position and at one time, I had one. At least, I was for that war long enough to march for it a couple of times. My position changed…oddly enough, around the time I knew I would not be drafted. Still, after that, I did not think ill of many who were advancing arguments in which I had lost faith. They believed what they believed, regardless of the personal sacrifice that might be involved, and to the extent that there are "good wars" in this world, they flow from that premise. The people I couldn't respect were the ones whose positions seemed to shift solely because they suddenly stood to lose something or someone. There was a lot of talk then about not having reverence for our troops and I felt that a dandy way to not do that was to view them not as real human beings but as expendable drones. The pro-war acquaintance with whom I argued the most after my conversion seemed to think winning that war was worth any amount of lives as long as they were poor, mostly minority, and he didn't know the fallen by name.
Polls suggest that somewhere between 57% and 54% of Americans do not think this war is worth fighting, versus 41% to 44% who think it is. I wonder what that latter number would be if we were to reinstate The Draft and arrange it so that it was a pure lottery with no exemptions, no deferments and no way for Americans to be certain that they or their family members wouldn't have to go. I'm guessing something close to single digits.