PRESS RELEASE: Tilly On Critics: "Insulting", "Ill-informed"
PRESS RELEASE: Tilly On Critics: "Insulting", "Ill-informed"
Minister of Defense, Intelligence and Security Hawkton Tilly took his critics to task today, calling their attacks "insulting" and their policies "ill-informed."
"To suggest that I'm anti-democratic, or intend to violate the constitutional order, is not simply insulting -- it's contrary to the record. My adherence to the Eutopian constitution has been above reproach. I still consider my greatest achievement to be participating in the creation of the Eutopian Charter of Rights, and I have upheld that Charter as MILE and as MDIS. I will continue to do so, and if a law is passed by the General Assembly ordering the MDIS to accept conscripts, I will follow that law to the letter.
"But I stand by my statements, and the fact remains that no one, not even Per Recyznski, has suggested such a law. The best the UEF has done is present a poorly-crafted bill which requires our young people to carry out two years of military service. No reference is made to how these young people are to be trained, housed, or fed. No indication is given to the Ministry as what we are to do with these young men and women. We are left to our own devices when it comes to that. So why shouldn't they be released from service?
"This highlights one of the critical problems with every piece of legislation the UEF has proposed -- Per Recyznski is terribly ill-informed. The fact is that no one wants conscription. The people who have to give up their children don't want it. The soldiers don't want it. The President doesn't want it. We, in the Ministry, don't want it. It seems like Per Recyznski is the only person who does want it. Yet as far as I know, he didn't speak with a single military man or woman, or a single member of my Ministry, before proposing his bill. He certainly didn't speak to me. Now, I ask you, which of us is less democratic?
"If you need more proof of how disconnected he is from the people he claims to represent, Per Recyznski has also proposed a value-added tax. He wants to spend 15 billion extra ducats per term on the military -- an increase of almost 50%. Did he bother to ask whether we actually needed the money? NO! I am certain that many members of our military might like to have a few more ships or planes, but as I have been repeatedly reminded over the past several days, the military serves the people. Part of that service is taking only the share we need to carry out our defense of the nation. I have been working hard to create a smaller, better trained, better paid, and more experienced force without raising our per-term spending. Per Recyznski would prefer instead to throw money at a problem that doesn't even need fixing -- that's his solution to where the money for continued conscription would come from. In other words, he wants the people of Eutopia to give up their sons and daughters for military service, and wants them to pay higher taxes to do it!
"I have not before and will not now hide my opinions about the draft. It is an archaic and unnecessary practice. The Eutopian military doesn't need it, and is worse for it. I will grant that it is effective in instilling a love of country in some places -- Israel springs to mind. But Eutopia is not Israel. We are not surrounded by enemies who may choose any moment to settle old scores. We don't need a population ready to pick up a rifle and fight at a moment's notice. The draft does in Eutopia the same thing that it did in the United States -- it saps the legitimacy of our government and the effectiveness of our armed forces. It is time we put an end to it, and I call on the General Assembly and the Senate to reject the Eutopian Service Bill out of hand and pass the Draft Abolition, Military Education, and Re-enlistment Act which will shortly be forthcoming. Thank you."