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Conscription is straight up slavery. I don't see any way around that. The arguments seem to be, "you'll only be a slave for a while, if you live", "we need sl

by LanceH 10y ago

Conscription is straight up slavery. I don't see any way around that. The arguments seem to be, "you'll only be a slave for a while, if you live", "we need slaves", "you'll get paid to do the work you're forced to do". If you want an army, be worth defending -- both in terms of paying the soldier and being a country that a soldier would want to work for.

briffle 10y ago
As a male that is forced to register with the US Selective Service, (I wanted financial aid for college) it sure does stick in my mind when I vote for our leaders, who can then authorize a draft if needed...
pbhjpbhj 10y ago
>Conscription is straight up slavery. I don't see any way around that. // Which person owns you in your analysis of that being slavery? Or is being owned by another person not a part of your definition? In a democracy, you're a slave to your own country, effectively. There are people making decisions on your life, all the people voting in the country including you, no? It may be wrong, just doesn't look like slavery to me.
- LanceH 10y ago
  What does single ownership have to do with anything? Is it somehow better than any number of people can spend your life for you? What other compulsory actions does the government take that authorize the expenditure of your entire life?
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    >What does single ownership have to do with anything? Is it somehow better than any number of people can spend your life for you? // No, it's not automatically better AFAICT, in practice I think it's likely to better on average. It's more that it was claimed to be "slavery" in actuality, not "like slavery" but actual slavery. So it's in some ways semantic but more it's that I think the position is substantially different to slavery - it's not just that it's a group of people, it's that it's a democratic country that you are also part of (as opposed to a corporation owning you, or an individual owning you). They're different conditions. In practice they perhaps share some [a lot of] downsides.

by LanceH 10y ago

briffle 10y ago

As a male that is forced to register with the US Selective Service, (I wanted financial aid for college) it sure does stick in my mind when I vote for our leaders, who can then authorize a draft if needed...

pbhjpbhj 10y ago

>Conscription is straight up slavery. I don't see any way around that. // Which person owns you in your analysis of that being slavery? Or is being owned by another person not a part of your definition? In a democracy, you're a slave to your own country, effectively. There are people making decisions on your life, all the people voting in the country including you, no? It may be wrong, just doesn't look like slavery to me.

LanceH 10y ago
What does single ownership have to do with anything? Is it somehow better than any number of people can spend your life for you? What other compulsory actions does the government take that authorize the expenditure of your entire life?
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  >What does single ownership have to do with anything? Is it somehow better than any number of people can spend your life for you? // No, it's not automatically better AFAICT, in practice I think it's likely to better on average. It's more that it was claimed to be "slavery" in actuality, not "like slavery" but actual slavery. So it's in some ways semantic but more it's that I think the position is substantially different to slavery - it's not just that it's a group of people, it's that it's a democratic country that you are also part of (as opposed to a corporation owning you, or an individual owning you). They're different conditions. In practice they perhaps share some [a lot of] downsides.