The CSNY listening continues unabated. (Although, after two listens this morning, I'm on to more of an all-purpose mix, probably the best mix ever, created for a dinner party we had. S chose 30 songs, I chose 30, and voila! Perfect mix.) I've been thinking a lot about WHY I like this music so much, and it's got to be partly the voices, which to my ears are perfect. But I'm thinking it might be about politics too; I know these guys are all the way liberal-almost radical, and that meshes perfectly with my political outlook. And you know, they wrote some of the quintessential protest songs (Ohio, anyone?).
That led me to think about protest music in general. I'm sure it's out there right now (actually being done by the Y in CSNY), because I mean, doesn't everyone own a copy of "American Idiot"? But it's not like it was during Vietnam. Not even close. And when I think about that, I think that it can only be due to one thing, and that one thing is the draft. I'm not trying to be callous, but the people going to Iraq and Afghanistan, as unfair as many of their deployments are, they volunteered for that job. And it sucks sucks sucks to know someone who is there, or is going there (S's sister's husband may be leaving for Iraq in March or April. No one knows for sure yet. But they have FOUR children under 10, and it's just sucky.), but you can be sure that they're there because ultimately, they volunteered to be there, whether they now want to or not.
But I think that IF there were to be a draft during this war, all hell would break loose--protests and songs and a mass-movement against this stupid war. I think that the minute you start to take kids (and make no mistake about it, they will be kids) from their homes, shipping them over to do a job that shouldn't need to be done, well, then you're going to enrage most of America. There may be people in favor of a draft, but I bet any money those people don't have sons between the ages of 18 and 28. Or brothers that age. Because I can tell you right now, I'll be put in jail before I'll let my little brother be dragged off to war. I'd do anything to make sure him or his friends didn't have to go (although, it's to my great sadness that I note that one of his friends joined up right before Thanksgiving; keep Paul in your thoughts, eh?). I'd do anything to make sure S didn't have to go. I'd aggressively pursue every legal route, and then I'd leave the country with him if it came down to that. I'm fairly certain that a draft would mobilize me instantaneously, and I don't think I'm alone.
I'm not saying there's going to be a draft. When S and I were talking about protest music, and that peculiar set of circumstances that brought the late 60's, early 70's movement about, he expressed his belief that it would be political suicide, for either party, and for any politician advocating it. I don't think he's wrong. But he better hope we don't get pulled into any more wars, and that our troop needs don't keep increasing. Because soon enough, there won't be enough volunteers. And what then?
Anyway. Back to my non-political mix.
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