Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., caused a political firestorm recently when he said he wanted to reinstate a military draft. His radical proposal brings to light a growing theme that both political parties should consider very closely. In a world where science provides better health and improves the prospects of longevity, death is no longer glamorous, particularly the early variety. Rangel is incoming chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, making his proposal worthy of attention.
I am now at an age where I can appreciate a comment that William Sloane Coffin made on a PBS interview: "nature gets more interesting the nearer you get to joining it." I offer this as a prelude to Ms. Arrison's claim: "Whether we like it or not, we are now immersed in a culture where living past 100 years will be possible for most people born today." This assertion blithely overlooks the inadequacies of the health care systems, particularly in the United States. The sad truth is that technology is never a match for bureaucracy; and the culture in which we are currently "immersed" has turned the reins of power over to a cabal of Ebenezer Scrooge's who see nothing wrong with reducing the "surplus population." As I see it, the question is not whether more and more of that population may be facing violent death but whether they may be facing "death by neglect" while a smaller and smaller layer of the population faces a prolongation of a life already being lived primarily in boredom.
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Technology and the Politics of War
Posted by: Sonia Arrison December 15, 2006 04:00 AMRep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., caused a political firestorm recently when he said he wanted to reinstate a military draft. His radical proposal brings to light a growing theme that both political parties should consider very closely. In a world where science provides better health and improves the prospects of longevity, death is no longer glamorous, particularly the early variety. Rangel is incoming chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, making his proposal worthy of attention.