Day Zero - Has anyone seen this movie?

[Saga]

Curious. I had it queued in my netflix watch instantly queue and it popped up while I was working on a project. I typically listen to various Netflix b-rate movies just to have some ambient noise while I work instead of music, but this one caught my attention pretty good for the first 20 minutes or so of it I had to watch before leaving my office.

It really got me thinking, just how realistic would a draft be in the near future? After all the years women spent fighting for their rights, would they be included in a future draft or would they escape it? How easy would it be to enforce something like this if say 8/10 Americans believed the draft wrong, or the war they were fighting wrong?

I'm younger, and I never experienced any of the Vietnam era outside what I read from history. However - I'd venture to guess that opinion of the Government today is far different than it was then, due to various factors of media, and current mistrust of the POTUS.

I don't really think this belongs in P&N because this is a question I ask on a very individual and personal level - how do you think your life would be effected today if you or someone very close to you was drafted? How would corporate America react if they lost key people and had to scramble to figure out what to do with revenue-generating work that they now have completely stagnant and locked out.

How would it effect our economy? Jobs, wages, and industry?

I'd really like to hear some opinions from basically all sides of the fence. And don't hold back.

P.S. - If you have Netflix, queue this thing up and give it a glance. Even just the first 30 minutes have quite a bit of emotion and intellectual probing to really get you thinking. It may not be an Oscar performance, and hell, for all I know it might as well be blatant propaganda, but with the looming actions of our government and military on foreign soil and the threat of future endeavors, I think these issues are definitely something many of us would not think about unless asked.

 

[minendo]

After all the years women spent fighting for their rights, would they be included in a future draft or would they escape it?

I'd say it would be pretty hard for them to be included seeing as to how they do not register for selective service.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: minendo

After all the years women spent fighting for their rights, would they be included in a future draft or would they escape it?

I'd say it would be pretty hard for them to be included seeing as to how they do not register for selective service.

I'd venture to suggest that if I wanted ACTUAL freedom in the Land of the Free, I should have been born a woman.

 

[moshquerade]

Out of curiousity, does anyone know if women, like their men are forced into military service in any other country?

I don't think we'll see a draft enforced in our country.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Out of curiousity, does anyone know if women, like their men are forced into military service in any other country?

I don't think we'll see a draft enforced in our country.

What could really prevent it? I don't know enough about the structure of a draft to know who ultimately enforces it, but if the next POTUS (or the current one for that matter) calls for one for a nice little "liberation" in Iran, who would be able to object?

This isn't something like the marches of Marijuana. Draft dodging is a capital offense - or so the politicians claim, as it's considered "treason".

Of course, those same politicians can probably un-draft their family members. Must be nice.

 

[sandorski]

It's possible that a Draft would one day include Women, but I think it is highly doubtful that Draft would ever include all eligible persons in a certain Age group. Mainly because you still need people at Home to Supply the necessary Goods to support a conflict, but also because you need to consider the long-term demographic affect of putting a Demographic group into harms way.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Out of curiousity, does anyone know if women, like their men are forced into military service in any other country?

I don't think we'll see a draft enforced in our country.

They are required to in Israel, IIRC.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Wow, OP... change the title or the description or something...

I came in to this thread expecting a conversation about a movie... not a political discussion.

 

[MisterJackson]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
Out of curiousity, does anyone know if women, like their men are forced into military service in any other country?

I don't think we'll see a draft enforced in our country.

Doesn't Israel mandate all go in the military...women included....correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: AbsolutDealage
Wow, OP... change the title or the description or something...

I came in to this thread expecting a conversation about a movie... not a political discussion.

The sub title is pretty clear - I apologize that it whizzed right over your head.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Topic Summary: How realistic is the thought of a draft in the near future?

I'd guess the odds are a hundred to one against it.

The only reason the public has allowed the current administration to spend a few trillion dollars and 4,000+ American lives for nation-building is because most citizens have not been personally impacted much beyond higher gas prices and fear of a recession.

Trying to frighten middle American with thoughts of a terrorist boogeyman dirty-bombing their shopping mall has worked reasonably well as propaganda, but partly because it hasn't required any real sacrifices from most people.

A draft that placed another half-million in harm's way against their will might be enacted, but then I'd expect everyone who voted for it would be driven out of office in favor of politicians promising to repeal the law.

 

[Jmman]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Topic Summary: How realistic is the thought of a draft in the near future?

I'd guess the odds are a hundred to one against it.

The only reason the public has allowed the current administration to spend a few trillion dollars and 4,000+ American lives for nation-building is because most citizens have not been personally impacted much beyond higher gas prices and fear of a recession.

Trying to frighten middle American with thoughts of a terrorist boogeyman dirty-bombing their shopping mall has worked reasonably well as propaganda, but partly because it hasn't required any real sacrifices from most people.

A draft that placed another half-million in harm's way against their will might be enacted, but then I'd expect everyone who voted for it would be driven out of office in favor of politicians promising to repeal the law.

100 to 1? I think you are way underestimating the possibility. I think the odds of the draft being re-enacted in our lifetime is probably at least 20% or more. Only time will tell though.....

 

[foghorn67]

Not in near future (knocks on wood). The past several years has opened up some eyes on the ramifications of that.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Topic Summary: How realistic is the thought of a draft in the near future?

I'd guess the odds are a hundred to one against it.

The only reason the public has allowed the current administration to spend a few trillion dollars and 4,000+ American lives for nation-building is because most citizens have not been personally impacted much beyond higher gas prices and fear of a recession.

Trying to frighten middle American with thoughts of a terrorist boogeyman dirty-bombing their shopping mall has worked reasonably well as propaganda, but partly because it hasn't required any real sacrifices from most people.

A draft that placed another half-million in harm's way against their will might be enacted, but then I'd expect everyone who voted for it would be driven out of office in favor of politicians promising to repeal the law.

Personally, I'd like to see it result more in a "fear of God" type of worry in the minds of politicians, rather than just "fear of not getting re-elected." You know, like with riots that threaten the safety of said politicians.
Do stuff like that, like tell those in power very clearly that we will NOT put up with corruption anymore, under pain of, well, not death, but maybe just genuine pain, I think there might finally be some changes made to the way things are done in our government.

Or as I like to put it, serve cocktails to Congress. Molotov Cocktails.
:laugh:

.....
.....
Wow, it's actually rather comfortable here on the Terrorist Watchlist.

 

[imported_Raine]

I agree too on this, you never know what the future has in store. Women may be included in a future draft.





_______________________________________
My idea for Mother's Day

 

[Eeezee]

If the Republicans win the election, a draft is a very real possibility. They want to invade Iran, and the only way we can do that is if we draft more troops. It's as simple as that. You can't invade a nation without ground troops, and our resources are already stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If the Democrats win, the possibility is much less likely..

If there's a draft, currently women are not eligible. It will take many years to change this. It won't be happening in the next 5 years, that much is certain; it'll require a fair deal of effort to change the draft such that women are eligible.

Hopefully students will still be ineligible for the draft for quite some time, I'm in grad school for another 4-5 years... I'll get as many degrees as necessary to stay off of the battlefield (I'd be happy in some research position, but the military is dumb enough to put smart people on the firing line)

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
If the Republicans win the election, a draft is a very real possibility. They want to invade Iran, and the only way we can do that is if we draft more troops. It's as simple as that. You can't invade a nation without ground troops, and our resources are already stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If the Democrats win, the possibility is much less likely..

If there's a draft, currently women are not eligible. It will take many years to change this. It won't be happening in the next 5 years, that much is certain; it'll require a fair deal of effort to change the draft such that women are eligible.

Hopefully students will still be ineligible for the draft for quite some time, I'm in grad school for another 4-5 years... I'll get as many degrees as necessary to stay off of the battlefield (I'd be happy in some research position, but the military is dumb enough to put smart people on the firing line)

Not too long ago, France tried to do something to lengthen the workweek, or change the amount of holiday time each year, something like that. As I recall reading, there were riots in the streets, causing the politicians to rethink the legislation.

If there were a draft proposed, I think (or hope) that you'd see a similar reaction. The war in Afghanistan was supported initially by the notion of, "Yeah, let's get 'em back!" Then it migrated to Iraq, and as it wore on, and the reasons and rationalizations for the war kept changing, support waned. Now they want to take on Iran. So who's next after Iran? Attack Saudi Arabia to secure the oil fields? How thin are we going to spread our troops? And hey, as Cheney said, "The bottom line question for me was: How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? The answer: not very damn many." So how many more lives would a war with Iran cost? Very damn many. Too damn many.

 

[datalink7]

I'd say a low chance. Majority of the military is against it.

 

[zeruty]

the chance of a draft in the next 20 years is almost non-existant

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: datalink7
I'd say a low chance. Majority of the military is against it.

How can you be so sure, however? The military, no matter how against, wouldn't be the ones pulling the trigger - correct?

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

No one's going to institute a draft anytime soon. It would be absolute political suicide.

 

[Saga]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
No one's going to institute a draft anytime soon. It would be absolute political suicide.

When would it be safe? 5 years? 10? 15?

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Originally posted by: Izusaga

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
No one's going to institute a draft anytime soon. It would be absolute political suicide.

When would it be safe? 5 years? 10? 15?

I can't see a draft being put into place unless American soil is actually threatened with an invasion. The only countries that can really do that are Russia and China, and even they know that would result in enormous losses for them. And it would also result in the entirety of Western Europe attacking them. No politician will support a draft until it's not a danger to their career.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
If the Republicans win the election, a draft is a very real possibility. They want to invade Iran, and the only way we can do that is if we draft more troops. It's as simple as that. You can't invade a nation without ground troops, and our resources are already stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Except that they want to be re-elected and something like 70% of the population is already against us being in Iraq. Another war with hundreds of billions spent and more dead is going to be hard to explain to voters.

The Bush administration has been trying hard with the propaganda for invading Iran, but after the lies before the invasion of Iraq it's a much harder sell that most people see through. "But see, these blurry smudges are Iran's mobile chemical warfare trucks!" Yeah, right.

 

[TallBill]

How do you think your life would be effected today if you or someone very close to you was drafted?

Hard to be drafted when you already in the service I wouldn't feel sorry for not a single person if they got drafted. Mandatory service would be a good thing for a lot of people. It wont happen though until we're on the brink of destruction.