'War. What is it good for?'
posted by Last Night in Little Rock
Thirty-five years ago this week, the song "War" by Edwin Starr first topped the charts. It stayed Number 1 for three weeks.
Coincidentally, during that same three weeks in 1970, I was preparing for my conscientious objector status hearing before my local Draft Board. I was in my first week of law school. That song helped steel my nerve to go before what was believed to be the most hostile in the state. In early September, I persuaded the Draft Board that a war of U.S. aggression in another country that involved no safety interest of the U.S. was morally objectionable and worthy of conscientious objector status.
It was the first "case" I ever won. When I left the hearing, "War" was playing on the car radio. I was physically and emotionally drained, and, to this day, I never uttered a bad word about those who served because they had no choice. One of those remarkable coincidences in life....
The more things change, the more they remain the same:
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