Would yous rather have to cope with post traumatic stress brought on by participation in warfare allegedly fought over some intangible ideal, or instead do useful and constructive work with pre-stressed concrete?
The military doesn't "own" a soldier any more than parents "own" their children. I suppose that since you have to be an adult to join the military, you are assumed to be capable of entering into the contract with that organization that outlines what is expected of you with regards to "doing as you are told", and what to do if an order you are given is in conflict with your moral beliefs... or in conflict with the social contract we make within ordinary civil society.
They claim it's a "defense" organization. It's no longer called the "War Department", but instead is called the "Department of Defense"... Well, the first rule of defense is to make friends, not enemies. I've heard it told that "human beings, when placed in a situation where they must live together in close proximity, have an instinctual tendency to become friends." So, we normally don't start fights. It's not convenient, it's too dangerous, and the ability to win a fight or pull a gun on somebody is not the most valuable skill... Nor is the ability to irk somebody else into starting a fight to make it look like "defensive action."
The best way to make friends and keep the peace in any community is to look for the causes of contention, and try to treat the causes, not the signs and symptoms. Being nice to other people nets us a lot more than attempting to dominate them ever could. It's a lot less likely to produce casualties or create resentments. It sets a much safer and more rewarding example for future generations to follow.
A major source of contention is fossil fuel resources. We need to reduce the demand for petrol, and thus weaken the impetus behind going to war to get more oil. So, thereby, our best defense option involves getting to work installing the new smart grid and electrical rail system—both an inter-city system for freight and passengers, and an intra-city streetcar system in every large urban area. The intracity streetcar systems should double as freight lines.
If building a new street had always included installing a light rail line there as a matter of course, we'd already have it licked. With the present situation, in order to accomplish this mission, a large number of new workers will need to be recruited. There must be factories making rail, rolling stock, rebar, wind generation turbines... And, there will need to be lots of construction crews working at the same time, like two or three between each major city and ten to a hundred inside each city.
That's WWII serious about getting it done right, and productive, instead of waiting for "it to rain", as in "the roof only leaks when it's raining." The other neat thing about this plot to undermine the American Dream I'm outlining here is that in order to have that many "soldiers" at work, many of us will have to be excused from our regular jobs to trench out our streets and rail 'em back up. But, instead of going "over there" and potentially dieing from poison gas, we'll bee right here at home, preventing ourselves and our families from having to continue breathing poison gases. Think of the Civil War, where father and son fought side by side against brother and cousin... What if instead we all work side by side?
Want the shining route to heaven? I think "heaven" means "heave", "lift", aka "work". So let's quest for the roly rails! Crusade for the new road shining. Wouldn't this new kind of societal behavior be more re-war-ding than the oiled kine? I say we stop spinning our wheels, blame-bling on and on about the silly prices and money, and instead focus on what's real. So, what'll you have? Money to burn, smoke and mirrors? Or hard cold steel rails that will last for a century? Want to help us whitewash this fence, Tom?
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