And I Ask Again: Will the Draft Include Women?

[Ed. note: Yes, the writer will do anything, include raise an inflammatory subject that people have been largely avoiding, as an excuse to delay sitting down and filling out tax forms.]

Will the next draft - and how are they going to do Iran and Syria and Cuba and Vermont without one - include women? I think I smell a poll coming.

How could the next draft exclude women? Well, I'll give you a hint. We'll hear a lot about the Bryan Nichols (was it?) case where he shot up the courtroom after wresting a gun from a female court officer and Jessica Lynch and Newt Gingrich telling us again how women get infections in foxholes.

The Culture of Life will insist that women cannot be ordered to serve. Isn't Selective Service mandatory registration still in effect and isn't it still just for males?

But I suspect they'll also get others on their side who otherwise do not agree with the Lifers but who want to save their wives and daughters from the draft. For example, as a much younger, less informed voter, I would not vote to approve the Equal Rights Amendment because I felt it would include women in the military and I didn't want anyone in the military. Ashamed now? You betcha! But I think I mentioned my "Young Republican" phase.

(When some people talk of their wild, misspent youth, they refer to sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But oh no, I had to wear polyester suits, use chlorofluorocarbons in my hair spray and attend Young Republicans meetings. Oh, the shame. If only I could do it all over again. Ah, but with age comes wisdom.)