Here’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Bill Steigerwald on the immorality of conscription — and on why draft dodging is morally upstanding.
There’s nothing especially noble or glorious about dying in a military campaign. To believe otherwise is to succumb to the mystical belief that the state is god-like, and that men and women exist for it.
The state, at its best, provides protection against violence. It is a service. It is a valuable service, perhaps even an especially valuable service. But it is a service. The supplier of this service is entitled to no greater claim on the rights or property or lives of its customers than are suppliers of other services. If General Motors or Starbucks or The Wall Street Journal cannot supply their services without conscripting workers, they should go out of business. If the state cannot supply its service without violating the very rights that allegedly justify its existence, it should step aside and let some other provider supply this service.
