No libertarian should be without a draft card.  Torching one in public is one of the greatest affronts to state tyranny ever devised.

But wait - I forgot.  This is post-911, and we've all caved to the blinding necessity of bigger government.  With calls for reinstating the draft coming from collectivists of all stripes, torching a draft card would be so out of goose-step.  Besides, after the previous century's hands-off policy of the state, here and around the world, we can regretfully admit that small government was given a fair chance and failed.  It's time to embrace Big Government with a clear conscience.  And Big Government means Big Sacrifices.

The good news is, we don't have to wait for the state to mandate carrying a draft card.  We can take a cue from its chief executive and act preemptively:  Produce our own.  Unlike the Vietnam era, many people have the technology to do one up in spectacular style with their Macs or PCs.  Not only would you find satisfaction in self-expression, you would allow the state to divert loot from the costs of printing cards to other freedom-safeguarding projects, such as fact-finding trips in the Bahamas.

Imagine the beaming pride our servants in D.C. would feel if they gazed upon a sea of marching patriots cheering and waving their draft cards in one hand, the flag in the other, begging to be sacrificed.  If that doesn't get your heart pumping red, white, and blue it ought to at least be pumping red.

Since the latest calls for the draft stipulate that it be universal [1, 2], any massive march on Washington would be in poor taste if the marchers didn't also present our servants with certificates of conscription eligibility.  Perhaps you can design an appropriate card for the president and his staff and the 535 members of congress and their armies of lobbyists, supporters, girl friends, and what not.  If you're in a creative rut, don't fret.  Public school kids are good at visual expression.  The government could even sponsor a contest among fourth-graders for the best card design, awarding winners free trips to the Lincoln Memorial.

It must be admitted that the voices calling for universal conscription are somewhat misleading.  They talk of reviving the draft, but it is not conscription they're promoting, it is an ancient moral precept.  Sometime before high technology consisted of the ability to blow one's nose, man discovered how to achieve peace, prosperity, and good will among people: sacrifice.  The one great evil in the world were people minding their own business.  The individual and his petty desires were the cause of all suffering.  Therefore, it is the right and duty of society to re-mold all individual desires for the benefit of Itself.  A person who didn't believe in sacrifice was the state's mortal enemy.

For most of history, sacrifice served a privileged few - the king and his court, the church and its priests.  Then the idea was mostly scrapped by our founders, who dedicated their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for the right to rule the world.  Okay, they didn't say "rule the world" exactly, but they were not as enlightened as we are.  During the twentieth century especially, we fought war after war after war, and rode the shaky voyage of economic instability, proving how right we are and misguided they were.  And we're still not done proving our point.

To avoid deteriorating morale, we again need to follow the state's lead and devise a new name for this card.  Draft card?  National ID card?  That would be a mistake.  Did the state call its upgrade of our liberty the "Anti-Bill of Rights Act"?  No.  It called it the Patriot Act.  Therefore, let me suggest a more appropriate name: Freedom Covenant ID Card.  Here's how mine is shaping up:

Freedom Covenant of the American People

Dear Mr. President,

My house is your house,
My bank account is your bank account,
My possessions are your possessions,
My life belongs to you, and only you.
Have a nice day!  ;),

__________________________
Your humble and willing servant

The purpose of sacrificing people is to further the cause of freedom (someone else's), and the covenant part sounds mysteriously sacred, so no one would dare violate it.  Well, almost no one.  Those who refused to be immolated wouldn't be punished, they would win a trip to a re-education center.  Once enlightened, or lobotomized, they would become willing contributors to society.

So in true American fashion, we have made lemonade out of lemons.  The brilliant among us see slavery as the solution to security.  We need to toast the names, if not the persons, of those brave souls who are demanding a new surge of sacrifice - columnists Ellen Ratner and Bill Berkowitz, and Congressman Charles Rangel of New York City, among others.  All they ask is the state threaten us sufficiently to adopt their ideas.  Long live the spirit of sacrifice our card-carrying citizens will represent.

References

1.  Berkowitz, Bill, "Reinstate the Draft," 1/3/2003 

2.  Ratner, Ellen, "Bring back the draft - part II," 1/3/2003