hydrangea blossoming

hydrangea blossoming
Hydrangea on the Edge of Blooming

Thursday, April 28, 2011

What Kind of Progress Is This?

I noticed at the local post office the other day a small sign announcing that every male citizen (not every mail, as I first typed) had to register with the U.S. government by his 18th birthday.  Now, I imagine this sign can be found at every post office in the U.S. (or at least at any post office in the U.S.), so this is not strictly a Point Roberts story.

But the thing is how surprising this relatively new sign is.  We have an all-volunteer army and have had such for several decades.  Why is the government still requiring registration by 18-year-olds?  And, my equally surprised response, Why is the government requiring that 18-year-old males register but not 18-year-old-females?

This seems about as goofy a government policy (on both counts) as I can imagine.  What do they do with those registrations?  Who presides over them?  And has anybody considered whether there is any point at all to this?

1 comment:

Liz said...

this took a second read! in australia we have similar government messages but they are for 18 years olds to enroll to vote, which is mandatory - so on first read i was wondering why only males had to vote!
liz price