Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130485
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
As matters stand, women lack equal rights with men and therefore do not have equal responsibilities. One of those responsibilities "enjoyed" by qualified men, but not by women, is possible death in combat.
VMI's ultimate purpose, its reason for being, is to train for possible combat those male citizens whom the state can order into the trenches. Women - for example, those attending tax-supported service academies - may play at war, as part of their training; but as Walter Lippmann put it, "War is not parades." Thus Amazon citizens have all of the rights, but not all of the responsibilities, that male citizens have.
When Congress excludes men, as it now excludes women, from compulsory military service and possible combat, the millennium will have been achieved. Meanwhile, a pox on Pat Sajak, who in radio spots has been reminding young (18-year-old) men, but not young women, to sign up for Selective Service, "as required by law." All that women are required to do in times of crisis is to pay their taxes. Big deal.
Come to think of it, the millennium may be nearer than we think. In a recent issue of Hemming's Motor News was a for-sale advertisement, in living color, for a 1944 Sherman tank, for only $95,000.
Meanwhile, VMI, stick to your guns; and "Right on, Gorby." Z.V. HOOKER II SALEM
by CNB