2006/11/20
Friedman e o serviço militar obrigatório
Aqui se lembra da oposição de Milton Friedman ao serviço militar obrigatório: Brad DeLong remembers Milton Friedman's opposition to the draft:
Gen. William Westmoreland, testifying before President Nixon's Commission on an All-Volunteer [Military] Force, denounced the idea of phasing out the draft and putting only volunteers in uniform, saying that he did not want to command "an army of mercenaries."
Friedman, a member of the 15-person commission, interrupted him. "General," Friedman asked, "would you rather command an army of slaves?" Westmoreland got angry: "I don't like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves." And Friedman got rolling: "I don't like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries." And he did not stop: "If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general. We are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher."
Mas o tema é recorrente:
"Congressman Charles Rangel of New York has introduced a bill that would re-institute military conscription (...) calling it "universal service." (...) Congressman Rahm Emanuel is championing ... conscript every 18-year-old to perform several years of (non-military)"service" to the state.
Gen. William Westmoreland, testifying before President Nixon's Commission on an All-Volunteer [Military] Force, denounced the idea of phasing out the draft and putting only volunteers in uniform, saying that he did not want to command "an army of mercenaries."
Friedman, a member of the 15-person commission, interrupted him. "General," Friedman asked, "would you rather command an army of slaves?" Westmoreland got angry: "I don't like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves." And Friedman got rolling: "I don't like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries." And he did not stop: "If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general. We are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher."
Mas o tema é recorrente:
"Congressman Charles Rangel of New York has introduced a bill that would re-institute military conscription (...) calling it "universal service." (...) Congressman Rahm Emanuel is championing ... conscript every 18-year-old to perform several years of (non-military)"service" to the state.
// posted by CN @ 11:09 AM 
