4 ms·

This same system applied in the US through the civil war at least ($300 would exempt you from the union draft -- about $11K in today's dollars). Also, up to WW

by gumby 3y ago

This same system applied in the US through the civil war at least ($300 would exempt you from the union draft -- about $11K in today's dollars). Also, up to WW1, in the US and UK at least you became a commissioned officer by purchasing your rank. Of course during the war there were field promotions on merit.

kragen 3y ago
i don't think the 19th-century usa would prosecute natural-born us citizens who had committed the 'crime' of living abroad during the years when they were eligible for the draft egypt is doing this
- gumby 3y ago
  I was talking about buying your way out of a draft. Passports are a (supposedly temporary) invention of the 20th century. They aren’t prosecuting, just keeping you from leaving before you fulfill your legal obligation. Egypt is hardly alone in this regard (e.g. Turkey, and before they abolished compulsory military service, France and Germany). Compulsory military service is not a good idea but that is orthogonal to the issue being discussed.
  - kragen 3y ago
    the article explains that they do in fact prosecute tho otherwise i agree
    - gumby 3y ago
      Are we reading the same blog post? The words "prosecute" and "punish" are not in the article. Maybe the confusion is that it is illegal to not do your service (I mean, that's what "obligatory" means) but that's unrelated to where you live, and again, a common rule in most countries with obligatory service that I know of. I don't know how serious a crime that is, except as the blogger points out you can't renew your passport.
      - kragen 3y ago
        he also pointed out that they prosecute you and fine you 500 dollars (which sounds a lot milder than i think it actually is in a country where 3500 dollars is a normal yearly income) > Facebook is also how I found out what happens if you avoid military service completely (& illegally), which is what I was planning to do. What happens is you fly back home after you are 30 years old (that's past the age cut off for service), you get a lawyer, go to a military court, you plead guilty & pay $500. And finally, for your crime of military desertion you are barred from running for parliament. All of this is what you skip when paying this new $5000 thing. it's true that he doesn't use the words 'prosecute' and 'punish', just the words 'military court', 'plead guilty', 'crime', and 'barred from running for parliament', which i think pretty strongly imply prosecution and punishment?

by gumby 3y ago

kragen 3y ago

i don't think the 19th-century usa would prosecute natural-born us citizens who had committed the 'crime' of living abroad during the years when they were eligible for the draft egypt is doing this

gumby 3y ago
I was talking about buying your way out of a draft. Passports are a (supposedly temporary) invention of the 20th century. They aren’t prosecuting, just keeping you from leaving before you fulfill your legal obligation. Egypt is hardly alone in this regard (e.g. Turkey, and before they abolished compulsory military service, France and Germany). Compulsory military service is not a good idea but that is orthogonal to the issue being discussed.
- kragen 3y ago
  the article explains that they do in fact prosecute tho otherwise i agree
  - gumby 3y ago
    Are we reading the same blog post? The words "prosecute" and "punish" are not in the article. Maybe the confusion is that it is illegal to not do your service (I mean, that's what "obligatory" means) but that's unrelated to where you live, and again, a common rule in most countries with obligatory service that I know of. I don't know how serious a crime that is, except as the blogger points out you can't renew your passport.
    - kragen 3y ago
      he also pointed out that they prosecute you and fine you 500 dollars (which sounds a lot milder than i think it actually is in a country where 3500 dollars is a normal yearly income) > Facebook is also how I found out what happens if you avoid military service completely (& illegally), which is what I was planning to do. What happens is you fly back home after you are 30 years old (that's past the age cut off for service), you get a lawyer, go to a military court, you plead guilty & pay $500. And finally, for your crime of military desertion you are barred from running for parliament. All of this is what you skip when paying this new $5000 thing. it's true that he doesn't use the words 'prosecute' and 'punish', just the words 'military court', 'plead guilty', 'crime', and 'barred from running for parliament', which i think pretty strongly imply prosecution and punishment?