The Republican Party members have yet to move out of their offices following the dramatic Democrat party majority win of both the House and Senate in November and already one Democrat member has begun stirring up the controversial political tide.

Representative Charles Rangel of New York appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” to announce his plan to create a new military draft by the beginning of 2007, the draft would which require young Americans to register after they turn 18.

If it hasn’t been painfully obvious as to why the United States voters chose the Democratic Party over the Republican Party nationwide, then maybe Rep. Rangel should start paying attention to those random polls that news agencies put out during political elections that rate the general public’s stance on important issues at the time, such as Iraq. The Washington Post reported recent polls showed seven out of 10 Americans disapproved of resurrecting the draft. Back in 2005, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the notion of the military draft ever being brought back.

When no one, unless your President Bush, feels good about the current situation in Iraq, why would anyone support such a ridiculous idea when the death toll of Americans serving in Iraq has been steadily rising. As of November 4, CNN reports a total of 2,825 Americans have been ‘killed’ in Iraq since the war began.

Rangel’s philosophy is the U.S. has already exhausted the military resources to a variety of overseas commitments and the draft would in effect lessen the strain. He went on to say that the Bush Administration would have not gone forward with the war with such a lack of proper evidence, especially had draft been instituted and members of Congress knew their children would be placed in harms way. I’m not really sure what that means, but I would assume Rangel wants to prove a point. That by giving the Administration the edge they want it would then inadvertently cause the politicians more eager to create an exit plan, or re-think their entrance all together. ‘Reverse psychology or reverse progressive thinking’ ? “I don’t see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft. I think to do so is hypocritical,” said Rangel.

Not too long ago, I remember when the military draft was on discussion table before it got the kibosh not long after. Now, the Democrats have taken great lengths to distance themselves from Rep. Rangel’s comments. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ‘rejected’ any and all plans to reinstate the draft, and said the House would reject the initiative if brought to the table.

Maybe I’m just incredibility jaded with the idea of being forced to wear oversized camouflaged attire, heavy black boots that I can’t tie properly and that I’ll probably end up tripping over, or going overseas to another part of the world against my will to defend my country. Patriotic or not, the draft is equivalent to getting sent up to your room without any dinner. You don’t have a choice in the matter unless you want some sort of random, unjustified punishment.

Unless there was literally no other choice but to initiate a draft, the mere idea of it at this point of time is a bit absurd. If we were literally on the brink of World War III, perish the thought, the U.S. government should be more focused on finding the easiest way to get troops out of Iraq, lessen the number of American deaths, and recognize that maybe, just maybe the idea of “winning back Iraq” was an idea that should have stayed on the cutting room floor. Instead of even considering forcing young people to take part in a war they might or may not approve of, it would be considerably better to focus on creating a better situation for those already in Iraq.

Since we’re already in ‘lose-lose’ situation in regard to a fight or flight plan, pulling out completely right now may do more harm than we did going there to begin with but at the same time increasing the amount of involuntary troops would probably worsen things even more.

This isn’t the first time Rangel has proposed a military draft. In 2003, he tried to pass bill that would have had people from ages 18-26 would be included in the draft, with the exception of those still in high school.

I know a few people my age who are in the military, and the thought of them going overseas scares me. Every once in awhile when the news shows blips of people from the Bay Area who have died in Iraq, and most of them are my age or younger. I question there hasn’t been a strict age limit on who can join the army. The reality of a draft is most of us are too young to serve, but we’re also too young to die.

Eming Piansay