Draft Dodger?
Part Three of Draft Resister
Continued from part two: Draft
Resister
Story starts on the page: The Military
Draft Is Immoral
Joe put his arm around Nam in the hallway before they entered
the courtroom, and tried to be cheerful. "How is my draft
dodger friend doing today?
"I don't think I'm a draft dodger," Nam corrected
him. "A draft dodger illegally evades the draft. I am not
evading, but applying for conscientious objector status. That
makes me a draft resister, I believe."
Joe leaned closer to whisper, "But you might evade it
illegally if you have to, right?"
"Hell, yes!" Nam laughed.
******************************
The judge asked Nam to rise.
"Mister Nam Modeerf, I understand that you are not a
pacifist, nor are you against all war in general. Is that correct?"
"Yes it is."
"Then you have no basis for conscientious objector status.
Do you realize that?"
"I understand that the law is written this way."
"Then what do you hope to accomplish here?"
"I hope to gain my freedom, which I have a right to."
"Okay, that seems clear enough, but on what legal basis
do you hope to accomplish this? A man can forfeit his freedom
when he breaks the law, and by refusing to serve in the army
when you were drafted, you broke the law."
"Some laws are made to be broken, aren't they? Over the
years we have had laws that allowed slavery, denied people of
different races the right to marry, and many others that were
later recognized to be wrong."
""Later recognized" is the important point
though, isn't it Mister Modeerf? Until the law is changed a man
doesn't have the right to break it."
"Doesn't he? If a man has an inherent right to liberty,
and the law denies him his freedom, does he no longer have that
right until he can change the law? Let me ask you personally:
If slavery were still legal would it actually be a crime in your
mind if a slave escaped to freedom and so broke the law?"
"An extreme example, and perhaps not relevant to this
case, but no, I don't think it would be a crime in a philosophical
or moral sense."
"It is directly relevant to this case, your honor. For
what else is this but an attempt to enslave me and put me in
harms way for purposes other than my own?"
"Some would say that it is your duty as a citizen."
"Is it? Did I sign some contract? Does my life belong
to the collective, as believed by communists, or do I have the
right to it? Isn't it obscene to enslave people in the name of
freedom?"
"And you would never fight for your country?"
"Certainly I would defend my home and the land I live
in, but this isn't about that. We have not been invaded. This
is a war about what politicians like to call "strategic
interests," which means it seems economically and politically
profitable to them. The draft is just a convenience for the sake
of unecessary wars. Any country worth defending will find all
the volunteers it needs when defense is necessary. But the real
point, again, is that as humans we have rights, and violating
those rights in the name of protecting them is dishonest, hypocritcal
and wrong."
The judge leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I understand
what you are saying, Mister Modeerf. But the law is the law."
"I understand what you are saying, your honor, and I
know that you can't rewrite the law. However, you do have the
discretion to give me conscientious objector status, to find
me not guilty, or to find me guilty and suspend the sentence.
In other words you have the ability to recognize my right to
liberty, and to protect that right or at least not violate it."
"That assumes I agree with your argument."
"I do assume that, because you appear to have a good
mind. If you send me to war, in what way are you not culpable
in this crime against me? The saying, "I am just doing my
job" is the excuse used by executioners and concentration
camp workers. And yes those examples are relevant too - I am
being sent to fight and possibly die in a war, not to clean windows!"
"Well, we both understand that. Is there more you wish
to say?"
"Yes. How many people still alive today wish they had
been on the right side with Martin Luther King? Or wish they
hadn't helped to round up our own citizens who happened to be
Japanese, and then steal their busineses and put them in concentration
camps during World War Two? I can tell you that history will
look on those who force others to die for their purposes - whatever
they may be - as criminals. Don't take part in the process!
"This is a chance for you to be on the right side of
history. I have hurt nobody, and I ask only for my rightful freedom.
If you send me off to die, or put me into your jail, you will
not sleep well tonight - and you shouldn't! I'm asking you to
do the right thing."
There was silence.
The judge leaned forward, and rested his hand on the gavel.
"I have to admit that I am moved by your argument, Mister
Modeerf, but I wish it was more of a legal argument than the
philosophical and emotional one it appears to be. I find you
guilty of evading the draft, and release you on your own recognisance
until sentencing tomorrow morning at nine a.m."
His mother hugged him. Joe put his hand on his back. The few
other witnesses in the courtroom filed out somberly. His father
wasn't among them.
******************************
Nam didn't sleep well. He spent the evening packing his belongings
into boxes, because he didn't know if he would be returning to
the apartment anytime soon. Joe came over to help him.
"Are you still sure you made the right choice? Sometimes
I think you just like to argue."
"Look, I know that I argue too much. I DO like to argue.
But I also like to live, and, by the way, I don't want to kill
people for no good reason. And whether or not I like to argue,
I believe what I am saying or I wouldn't say it."
"Oh, I know that." He started to pull books off
the shelves and put them into boxes. "So what about your
father. When are you going to forgive him?"
"Already have."
"Really?"
"People do what they feel they have to at the moment.
I long ago accepted the fact that even the best of people can
do terrible things. You don't have to excuse the crime to care
about the criminal."
*******************************
There were more people in the court than the day before. They
rose to their feet when the judge came in, then returned to their
seats. They were restless and whispering. The court was called
to order.
The judge cleared his throat and motioned for Nam to stand up.
"Mr Modeerf. My great great grandfather was a slave in
North Carolina. When he escaped to the north and was later captured,
he was returned to his "owner" as the law required.
Obviously, I know something about unjust laws. I cannot imagine
that a good and honest man, were he a judge looking at my great
great grandfather, would have enforced that law. The law was
not only wrong, but morally wrong in its intentions.
"In this case, I have come to agree with you that the
law is unjust. Apart from the morally suspect idea that one should
be enslaved to fight for freedom, it has also resulted in further
injustices in practice. Those with money have historically been
able to avoid the draft, for example, while the poorer classes
serve. I do not think, however, that the intent of the law is
morally wrong. The intent is clearly to defend the country, nothing
more, despite how the draft may be used at times. So this is
not a case where I feel compelled to ignore the law.
"Now, I find your actions to be against the law, but
I also find your arguments compelling. There are some who would
say that you have a duty to society in this case, but I have
to agree with you that it is precisely that concept of society
having a claim on your life that the founders of this country
refuted. Your life is your own. Your liberty is not by permission
of this or any other government, but your inherent right.
"However, perhaps you have heard of the concept of a
"social contract." Even a free man must associate with
others in a society, unless he chooses to live alone on an island.
For that association to work, and that society - with all of
its benefits - to survive, the members must join together as
necessary to defend themselves. In this regard, there is perhaps
an implicit contract between members of society.
"You have rights, yet is it fair to have those rights
protected soley at another's expense? After all, you do benefit
from the protections provided by this society, by way of this
government. An implicit "social contract" seems like
a reasonable basis for requiring some participation in defense
of the country.
"That being said, I do believe that you would defend
this country when and if you perceived it to be threatened. Furthermore,
if any responsibilty for doing so is on the basis of the implied
contract I am suggesting, then I would have to see this as a
civil matter, rather than criminal, when you violate that social
contract.
"Unlike criminal law, civil law allows only for financial
penalties, and the taking of property. It cannot be used to take
away fundamental rights, like liberty, or freedom of speech.
In this case, I can find no precedent for the government to sue
you for failure to perform under the terms of a "social
contract." Futhermore, since such a contract, if it exists,
is as yet poorly defined, such a suit could not be pursued justly."
He paused and took a breath.
"I find you guilty of evading the draft. I hope that
you and others will someday change the law, for I agree with
much of what you have said. However, I cannot refuse to enforce
all laws I hope to see changed. And though I might do so in the
case of a law of bad intention, this isn't such a law in my mind.
"What I can do, because I believe the law is mis-applied,
or rather poorly drafted, is exercise my discretion in sentencing.
I sentence you to one night in prison, with credit for time served.
You are free to go."
********************************
His mother gave hig a big hug, with tears in her eyes. Joe
walked with him to the car. Nam still looked troubled.
"What's wrong Nam?" Joe asked.
"I do participate in the defense of the country. If the
government would fight the right wars and pay enough, they would
always have enough men and women enlisted, right?" He didn't
wait for an answer.
"And who pays for that? I do. I pay my taxes. We pay
for policemen but we are not all obligated to be one. We pay
for highways, but we don't have to help build them with our own
hands. I participate in defense the same as in all these other
areas, by way of the taxes they take from me."
"Hey, hold on there! You won! You aren't in jail and
aren't going to war! Do you want to go back and argue with the
judge now?"
Nam smiled - his first in a long time. "Of course I do...
but I'm not stupid." He got into the car. "And what's
this nonsense about a social contract anyhow? I never signed
any such thing!"
The End |
