My blog post

[EyeofCassandra]

Here is my first ever blog post. I am kind of nervous about the reception!

On Self-Ownership, Equality and Selective Service

If you are like most Americans you are hearing a cacophony of political arguments for and against women being forced to register for the draft. Nearly all of them center on one of a few key precepts.

Should women be forced to register because men are?

Should young girls (our daughters, our mothers, our sisters) be sacrificed to prove our “equality” or out of revenge for our refusal to be subservient in the culture or the home?

If so, which of us needs to go? Should we sacrifice all women or “just the single and childless” ones?

Or (as it has been argued) do our young men (our sons, our fathers, our brothers) bear this “responsibility” merely for the bad fortune of being born a male?

The only argument you will NOT hear is the morally correct one: The answer is none of the above.

It is profoundly immoral to seize ANYONE from their home, their family and their life and demand they give their life for the whim of a politician. It is disgusting, inhumane and an utter disgrace and dishonor to The Founders who voluntarily went into battle to build a nation on the belief that each individual had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-NOT that we had the “right” to be sacrificed equally at the altar of the state.

I am not livestock. I was not born to be property. I am not here to be bred, corralled and butchered in service of the state. I am not here to be appraised at auction for my relative worth to someone else’s notion of the community or the common good. My body, my life and my will are my own and I refuse to be an object of sacrifice. The state does not own me. I do and I alone will choose when to give my life or end it.

The mere fact that we as a people are willing to argue who should be maimed or sacrificed in the service of our government reveals what passes for “moral character” in our society. Apparently, it is not a question of whether a government designed to be a servant of its people (and not the other way around) has the right to demand the sacrifice of life. It is simply a question of who should go first!

I vote that no one deserves this and I refuse to give my life for anyone’s values but my own. I will stand equally for the rights of any other woman or any man who feels the same. If that makes me a bad citizen or an enemy of the state so be it. My life and the lives of those I love are too valuable to trade for approval, convenience or sheets of paper. And ironically my own self-ownership is one thing I am more than willing to die for!

[Mikee]

Wow.  It is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cassandra.  It is interesting reading your opening post.  I am 67, I read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" when I was 17 working in a community college book store.  I felt as you did, I already believed everything Ayn said.  I was an individualist through and through, I did not need to be converted.  I joined the Navy (I was 1A, about to be drafted if I did not choose my own way).  While in the Navy I read the rest of Ayn Rand, and went on to read Aristotle and all of the Austrian Economics I could get my hands on.  I debated my fellow sailors on capitalism and individualism.  One fellow didn't agree with my views on the military draft.  We agreed to a debate.  We talked for perhaps two hours, I laid out all of my individual points and one by one got agreement.  At the end I concluded "therefore the United States should end the military draft"...after a few seconds this fellow got up and as he was walking away said "No!  If I've got to go, they've got to go".  So, there it is.  I learned a great deal in that exchange.  I have never given up my beliefs or principles these 50 years.  I am happy.  Never give up.  I look forward to your writing.

[Selene]

My compliments, this is a good polemic.

I see you went back to the more 17th/18th century language, similar to John Stuart Mill did with On Liberty.

Consider using a different emphasis "device" for your declarative words rather than CAPS.

I enjoyed it, keep up the good work.

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