Lynchburg ‘war tax resister’ speaks about pacifist lifestyle

by | Apr 25, 2017

Lynchburg ‘war tax resister’ speaks about pacifist lifestyle

by | Apr 25, 2017

In the song “Alice’s Restaurant,” Arlo Guthrie tells a meandering Thanksgiving tale involving a garbage dump, an empty church and “police officer station,” ending by encouraging listeners to sing the song’s chorus to protest the Vietnam War.

An Ann Arbor, Michigan, radio station played the song on Friday nights when Larry Bassett was in college, marking the time when he began considering civil disobedience before becoming a “war tax resister” at different times in his life.

At that time, the Selective Service office was one stop on Bassett’s Saturday morning U.S. Postal Service route. Protests often were underway as Bassett carried “like two inches of green” Selective Service cards.

“There I would be in my mail uniform being of age to be drafted, stepping carefully around these people who were being very nice to me,” Bassett said. “… I was one of those guys doing my job at that point.”

For a few months after he finished college and before he became a father, Bassett was eligible for the draft, forcing him to contemplate what he’d do if the military called his number.

Would he evade by leaving the country? Would he refuse under penalty of prison?

Read the rest by Alex Rohr at the News and Advance.

News and Advance

Lynchburg, VA news source.

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Our Books

cb0cb1ef 3fcb 417d 80d8 4eef7bbd8290

Recent Articles

Recent

TGIF:  Israel and Jabotinsky’s Iron Wall

TGIF: Israel and Jabotinsky’s Iron Wall

Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky (1880-1940) was a key figure in the development of the Zionist movement, which led to the founding of Israel in 1948. After breaking from mainline Zionism, Jabotinsky, born in Odessa (Ukraine), established Revisionist Zionism, a more openly...

read more
The Smallness of Mark Levin

The Smallness of Mark Levin

In 2009, I was working part time in talk radio in Charleston, South Carolina as an on-air personality. I was also the token conservative columnist for the local, liberal free weekly paper. I wasn’t making a lot of money, but I was working in the field I was most...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This