A war is going on and Americans might as well be citizens of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

A calm, suburban ease infects innumerable communities across this land. Deaths in Iraq have become as mundane as a calendar – another day, another death.

More than a thousand of our youth have died for an unnecessary war. Casualty counts number more than 7,000. The military no longer keeps track of civilian deaths.

Blood spills as easily as milk during breakfast.

With war, with sacrifice, there must be tension and it must be aggravating. For this reason, I support a military draft.

If drafted, I would not go. Instead, I would spend my time agitating. Because the U.S. public has been largely sheltered from Iraq, I believe the draft is one of the most effective ways to wake the public from its stupor.

Finally, the public might come to realize the atrocities it is paying for.

Right now, the burden in Iraq is being shouldered by minorities and lower-class levels. The military is disproportionately made up of minorities and middle- and lower-class citizens. Not surprisingly, the deaths are on the same lines. The well-off do not bear the costs in dollars and lives.

At least with a draft, those of higher economic levels would be exposed to the threat of military service.

If every family were faced with the possibility that a son or daughter could serve in Iraq, I doubt they would still be apathetic.

Some claim that the military is voluntary right now. I agree it is voluntary for some, but for others it is simply the lesser of two evils.

The choice is between a dead-end job in an impoverished community or to volunteer for the military on the promise of a college education backed by the sacred trust that the president would not unnecessarily put you in harm’s way.

President George W. Bush has violated that trust and a minority suffers the dire consequences. Troops are stretched thin. Reserves and National Guards members are being called up. Many are serving extra extended duties. International support is not there. There is certainly need for a draft.

It’s a wonder Bush can look into the television cameras and gaze back at the millions watching him and say that this war was not a mistake.

I feel sorry for Bush and his eyeless, fearful followers.

If only they could realize the sacrifices are being made in a campaign that is only distantly, at best, related to the war on terrorism.

Rumors are that the U.S. government is in negotiations with Canada to catch draft dodgers if there is a draft. Take Internet rumors with a grain of salt, but if they are legitimate, Mexico would become the obvious safe haven for draft objectors.

Imagine that, U.S citizens breaking into Mexico. They might even pass a few illegal immigrants on the way.

Even though I’m learning Spanish, I wouldn’t go to Mexico. I’d stay in the United States to face the consequences and to organize. I am an American after all.

I am not alone in those who would skip out if the draft were reinstated.

According to a national survey conducted by the Alliance for Security, 52 percent of eligible Americans would refuse to serve or seek deferment.

It has been much too easy for us to send soldiers to foreign lands and let them kill and be killed.

The oceans that separate us from Iraq have diluted the blood. The carnage has been reduced to pixels on newspaper print. Television has been our rose-colored glasses.

If people truly felt they, or somebody they know, could be sent to war involuntarily, the war in Iraq would then become a more visceral reality.

Karl Noyes is the senior editorial board member. He welcomes comments at [email protected].