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I walked into a local post office to send a stuffed animal to my newborn niece. There, I found a brochure that explained how males who are 18-25 are required to register for the Selective Service System. Inside, under the question "Will I Be Drafted?" the brochure said, "The fact that a man is required to register does not mean that he will be drafted. No one has been drafted since 1973. No one can be drafted into the military unless ordered by the Congress and the President. A draft would most likely occur only in the event of war or national emergency." [emphasis mine].
We are constantly bombarded with propaganda that we are a free country with equal opportunity and treatment regardless of race, religion, sex blah, blah, blah. You are only free if you have choice. The sexes are only equal if they have equal freedoms and responsibilities.
If you can be ordered to do something that puts your life in danger, you are not free. Why are only men ages 18-25 required to register with the Selective Service System? Why not women? Why are women free from a possible order to fight for freedom when they are obviously the only sex that is free from threat of being forced to fight? Shouldn't those who are free be the ones who have to defend their freedom?
Forcing ONLY young men to register with the Selective Service System is clear evidence that our society considers males second-class citizens whose lives are less important than female lives. Men can be required to sacrifice their freedom and also their lives by Congress and the President. Women cannot; they are protected.
If males do not register they will pay a price. The Selective Service System web site (http://www.sss.gov/reg5.htm) says that males who fail to register can be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison or both. The Soloman Amendment (1982) made registration a requirement for Federal Student Categories of Financial Aid which include: Pell Grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, College Work-Study, National Direct Student Loans, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and Some State Student Incentive Grant Programs. Women can have all these things without the threat of being drafted.
The Thurmond Amendment (1985) requires registration to be eligible for Federal jobs in the Executive Branch. The same is true for most jobs in the Federal Government and the postal service, including temporary and summer jobs. Women can have the jobs without the threat of being drafted.
Eligibility for job training under the Workforce Investment Act is only available to males if they are registered for the Selective Service. Registration is also required of immigrant males seeking US citizenship. Women can get the training without the threat of being drafted.
In addition, many states, local government agencies, police departments and state bar examiners also require registration for males. Women can have these opportunities without the threat of being drafted.
Where is the equal opportunity and equal responsibility in the Selective Service? Only men have to sacrifice their freedom and possibly their lives to have all those government benefits. Women get it all for free.
Is it any surprise that on average women outlive men by seven years and men commit suicide at four times the rate of women? Is it any surprise that males are enraged? No rational male can reconcile the Selective Service, which should be called Selective Tyranny and Genocide Against Males, with the notion that we live in a free country with equality of the sexes.
My niece was lucky to be born a girl because she is free. Male babies are born into slavery.
Chip Gibbons created and maintains a Blog called "The Binary Circumstance."
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