Letter to Taylor Batten--Editor--Charlotte Observer

Taylor--Should you be looking for material for your next op-ed piece, this would be a worthy one. Brother Fred has been pounding on this for a long time. He served as Dean of Admissions at Stanford U for many years and afterwards at Princeton until retirement a few years ago. (Both he and I served in the military long before entering college--in fact, that was the only way the two of us, like many thousands of others, were able to go to college (GI Bill)).The topic --universal military (or other kind of civic) service--only gets an occasional airing any more, and rarely by an newspaper's editor. Anyhow--for what it's worth. Regards, Bernie -----Original Message-----From: Fred Hargadon <hargadon@Princeton.EDU>To: Bernie Hargadon <bhargadon@aol.com>Sent: Tue, Aug 25, 2009 11:32 pmSubject: NYT op-ed: The Ultimate Burden
Bernie,That I couldn't agree more with this op-ed is obvious from my Letter to the Editor in the NYT four years ago.FredTo the Editor: Allowing college deferments during the Vietnam War and then subsequently doing away with the draft altogether was terrible public policy. The result has been not only to exacerbate the socioeconomic inequities of our society but also to render political decision-making about the uses of our military completely untethered from any broad national consensus on which objectives are worth our making what kinds of sacrifices - including, if necessary, our own lives or the lives of our children or fellow citizens. No law passed by Congress could more effectively democratize this nation of ours than one requiring some sort of universal military service. Fred Hargadon Princeton, N.J., Aug. 18, 2005 OPINION August 25, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist: The Ultimate Burden By BOB HERBERT If the war in Afghanistan is fundamental to our defense, as President Obama stated, then we shouldn't be leaving the entire monumental task to a tiny portion of the population.