As much as I like Oliver Willis's blog, I have to say I share Ezra Klein's puzzlement over Oliver's recent assertion that a reimposition of the draft here in America would somehow be "immoral."

Now, there are plenty of profoundly immoral things in this old world -- everything from homicide, to hunger, to the new Law and Order spinoff that's slouching toward Burbank even as we speak. But conscription in a democratic republic like ours just isn't one of them. In fact, it's probably the only truly moral way for a free people to go about the business of determining who does and doesn't get shot at when the majority has decided that it wants or needs to impose its will on another nation by force of arms.

I'd actually like to go on a bit here, but since I'm already in the process of putting together a larger post on all this -- egalitarianism, civic liberalism, call it what you will -- for publication sometime in the next week or so, I'll wait. In the meantime, to get a fuller sense of why I disagree with Oliver (as well as where I'll be going with the post), read this brief review of Mickey Kaus's rightly celebrated 1992 book, The End of Equality.

POSTSCRIPT: As always, we tease because we love. The sad truth is that my TV life seems to have come down to newsy chat shows, the occasional movie, and an endless procession of L&O reruns.

Now do you see where I find the time to blog?

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