Hoover letter: Boots on ground

I’m sick of hearing the rallying cry for boots on the ground from people and politicians with nothing to lose except some tax dollars.

We’ve become so flippant about the human cost of war as a nation that I believe the only wake-up call is to reinstate the draft.

Since so many of our war proponents admire Israel, we should follow their example. All Israeli citizens age 18 and over are conscripted, men for three years, women for two.

When every American starts imagining their sons and daughters bleeding to death in some foreign country, maybe we’ll start having rational discussions about diplomatic, economic and isolationist solutions before killing and bombs. It’s high time everybody has a stake in something as serious as a war.

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Hoover letter: Boots on ground."