DEMOCRATS CALL FOR FORCED CONSCRIPTION

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D

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:13:37 -0700 (PDT)

DEMOCRATS CALL FOR FORCED CONSCRIPTION

 

 

 

 

Folks, when the Democrats are calling for Manadatory National

Service for our kids (to replace Selective Service), we know we are in

trouble, but deep.

 

Please forward this article to every person you know. Only

together, as a unified force can American citizens defeat the BEAST

that has become our government.

 

m> wrote: Below is some analysis of the recent meeting of the

Democratic Leadership Council and it's proposed plans for the 2006

elections and beyond. It is clear as day that these Democrats, so

influential within the Democrat Party structure, have no intention of

aligning in any way, except through deception, with the anti-war

movement. I think it is very important that a united anti-war movement

organize now to prevent a repeat of how the Kerry and Dean

presidential campaigns (both pro-war) derailed the anti-war movement. --

Malachy

 

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Democratic Leadership Council drafts right-wing platform for coming

elections

By Joseph Kay

28 July 2005

 

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) held its annual convention

in Columbus, Ohio, last weekend, outlining its program for the

upcoming 2006 mid-term elections and the presidential election in

2008. Speeches at the meeting and documents published in advance

indicate that the Democratic Party plans to run an extremely right-

wing campaign, particularly on the issues of " national security " and

the war in Iraq.

 

Formed in the mid-1980s, the DLC is a dominant influence within the

Democratic Party. It has been the main source of the " new Democrat "

movement that has pushed the party to the right over the past two

decades.

 

The main speaker at the convention was New York senator and former

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton accepted a post to head

the council's new " American Dream Initiative, " in which capacity she

will travel the country promoting the DLC's views. This positions

her as the frontrunner for the party's nomination in 2008. In

courting the DLC, Clinton is following in the footsteps of her

husband, who chaired the council from 1990 to 1991, before running

for office.

 

Amid speculation that she could seek the same path to the White

House, Hillary Clinton used her speech at the convention to dispel

any notion that she would ever run as a " liberal " candidate. In

using the DLC platform to call for a " cease fire " among the

Democratic Party's different factions, Clinton was sending a clear

signal to left forces within the party, such as Moveon.org: Even the

slightest nod to anti-war sentiment will be opposed by the party

leadership.

 

Also speaking were several others considered to be potential

presidential candidates, including Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana,

Governor Tom Vilsack from Iowa and Virginia Governor Mark Warner.

Bayh is the DLC's former chairman, and Vilsack is its current

chairman.

 

Clinton emphasized her commitment to creating " a unified, coherent

strategy focused on eliminating terrorists wherever we find them "

and " improving homeland defense. " She envisioned a future society in

which " we've put more troops in uniform, we've equipped them better,

and we've trained them to face today's stress, not yesterday's. " In

calling for more troops, she repeated the main criticism that

Democrats have directed against Bush's handling of the war in Iraq—

that not enough forces were committed to guarantee victory.

 

Clinton also endorsed DLC ideas such as welfare reform, implemented

by her husband, which has deprived millions of people of government

assistance. She called for fiscal responsibility and repeated

certain " cultural " themes designed to neutralize opposition from the

extreme right. She urged passage of an " enforceable international

ban on human cloning " and sounded notes from her recent campaign

attacking violent video games. She called for all Americans to come

together on the basis of " our faith in God and our shared values, "

while pledging to " reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and

abortions by promoting family planning and by strengthening our

systems of adoption and foster care. "

 

For Clinton, the speech is the continuation of an attempt to promote

her right-wing credentials. In recent months, she has teamed up with

former House speaker Newt Gingrich and current Senate majority

leader Bill Frist on health legislation that would be amenable to

big business. She has taken a post on the Senate Arms Committee to

allow her to voice strong support for the war in Iraq and an

increase in the number of troops in the military. In January, she

made a speech calling for Democrats and Republicans to find " common

ground " on the abortion issue.

 

The proposals advanced by Clinton and the other speakers at the

convention were developed in several articles published in the most

recent issue of the DLC's magazine, Blueprint.

 

In the lead article, " How America Can Win Again, " Al From, the DLC's

founder and CEO, and Bruce Reed, its president, voiced full support

for the Bush administration's escalation of militarism under the

pretext of a " war on terror. " After September 11, the pair

wrote, " for a brief, shining moment, country—not party—was all that

mattered.... Four years later, we have won some important victories

against terror and tyranny, in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the duty we

owe to the victims of Sept. 11—and to the cause of freedom—has not

been fulfilled. "

 

In the event of a Democratic electoral victory, the war would not

merely continue; it would escalate. The authors criticized the

administration for having " failed to arm us economically and

militarily for a war that could go on for decades.... Iraq isn't the

last war we'll have to fight, and we need a bigger army. " They

called for 100,000 additional troops in the US military—a demand

that was repeated at the convention itself. This echoes a recent

bill introduced by Senate Democrats, including Clinton and former

vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, for an additional

80,000 troops.

 

From and Reed sought to underscore the fact that on questions of

foreign policy, they have no differences with the Republican

Party. " Winning the war on terror, " they wrote, " is too important

for either side to spend all its time pointing fingers at each

other. We're Americans first, and we should approach this war the

way the American people do: They don't care which party wins, as

long as America wins. "

 

In an accompanying article, " Valuing Patriotism, " Will Marshall,

president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a DLC affiliate,

wrote that the Democratic Party's essential task is to forge closer

ties to the military. " More than anything else, " he wrote,

Democrats " need to show the country a party unified behind a new

patriotism—a progressive patriotism determined to succeed in Iraq

and win the war on terror, to close a yawning cultural gap between

Democrats and the military, and to summon a new spirit of national

service and shared sacrifice to counter the politics of

polarization. "

 

While Democrats should criticize the Republicans for mistakes in

waging the war—such as not having enough troops—Marshall declared

that they should " also attend to the other side of the balance

sheet. That side shows that our forces and their allies have toppled

one of the world's most odious tyrants; upheld the principle of

collective security; liberated a nation of 24 million; made possible

Iraq's hopeful experiment in representative self-government; and

changed the strategic equation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. "

 

In a section on " Democrats and the military, " Marshall noted with

great displeasure that a disproportionate number of officers in the

military identify themselves as Republicans. " How can Democrats

start healing this breach? For starters, they can speak out against

colleges that ban military recruiters or the Reserved Officers'

Training Corps (ROTC) from their campuses. "

 

Marshall also elaborated on the DLC's conception of a program

of " national service, " begun under President Clinton and his

AmeriCorps program. " One way to put service on more young people's

radar screens is to replace the Selective Service System [which

registers American youth for any future military draft] with a new

National Service System. Such a system would sign up women, as well

as men, and encourage them to volunteer for military or civilian

service. Another way to enlarge AmeriCorps would be to link federal

student aid to national service. Under such an arrangement, only

those who agree to serve would be eligible to receive Pell Grants or

to apply for subsidized student loans. "

 

There have been some calls from within the DLC to make this " service

system " mandatory, essentially forcing all youth to engage in some

form of military or " homeland defense " activity.

 

Various left-Democrat blogs have denounced Clinton's speech before

the DLC as a capitulation before the right wing of the party and

urged a return to the party's " roots. " However, the views expressed

by Clinton and the DLC are merely a continuation of the policy

pursued by the party leadership. The Democrats have offered crucial

support to the Bush administration in prosecuting the war, carrying

out an assault on democratic rights, and pursuing right-wing

economic policies.

 

John Kerry ran for president on the grounds that, unlike Bush, he

would be able to win the war in Iraq. Kerry's loss stemmed from his

inability to make any appeal to opposition sentiment. The conclusion

that the party drew from this loss, however, was the necessity for

moving even further to the right, seeking to intensify its

collaboration with the Bush administration.

 

As anti-war sentiment grows—with recent polls indicating that 60

percent of Americans favor an immediate partial or complete pullout

from Iraq—the Democratic Party responds by calling for an

intensification of the war effort.

 

This divergence has deep social roots. The Democratic Party

represents a section of the American ruling elite that, whatever its

tactical differences with the Bush administration, agrees with the

Republicans on all essential questions. This includes the use of

military force to establish US global hegemony and the slashing of

working class living standards and curtailment of democratic rights

at home.

 

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/dlc-j28.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

" Dissent is the highest form of patriotism "

 

 

 

~ Thomas Jefferson

 

 

 

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