Liberty or Death

One thing that stuck with me about Nate's answers was the part about Liberty.  I understand the point that mandatory national service would infringe upon someone's liberty.  that is obvious - the government would be telling Americans what to do, at least for a time.  But my follow up question to that is - Doesn't the government already do this?

Doesn't the government, through it's regulations and laws, infringe upon our liberty every day and tell us what we can and can't do?  The example are countless, but the first on my mind is Taxes.  We pay taxes, that is giving up a portion of our own money, because we are required to.  In fact, I would agrue that the current problem is that this is the only concrete way many civilians contribute to their country and, again, remember that this is mandatory for them.  So, why would it necessarily be such a stretch to require more from the average every day citizen - such as through mandatory National Service?

I would make the point that many of the other areas in which the government dictates the rules are in much less important arenas.  The subject of our national defense and our overall national character as far as helping others and sacrifices for the community should be paramount.