Reply #34: Yup. It's limited abilities, not disabilities - at least in my view. [View All]

[TahitiNut]

As long as people have abilities and they're not institutionalized (hospital, etc.), some manner of service should be mandatory. I'm a strong believer that it's about our abilities, not our disabilities. I have congenital lower lumbar scoliosis, now resulting in chronic sciatica. If I'd been wealthy, my parents could've afforded the kind of medical care that would've identified this congenital condition back then and I could have been exempt from the draft. Instead, I was drafted and sent to Viet Nam. Anyone can serve their nation.

Until alternative modes of national service (public health care, VISTA, Peace Corps, etc.) are established, the draft should include EVERYONE between 18 and 32. The notion that women should somehow be exempt or that gays should be barred or that the wealthy have 'better things to do' are equivalently despicable discrimination.