“Who will bring back the draft? Probably a Republican.”
The draft was ended by Republican President Richard M. Nixon in January 1973. The draft was opposed by the wealthy elites who fund both political parties and did not want their children serving in the unpopular Vietnam War. Once the selective service system had been shifted from local draft boards selecting draftees and giving deferrals, to a national lottery, the wealthy and politically connected could no longer easily shield their children from service. Hence the decision to end compulsory service.
Today the only prominent politician calling for reinstatement of the draft is Democrat Congressman Charles Rangel. Not only has Rangel been speaking out strongly in favor of both a draft and a war tax, he introduced legislation to reinstate the draft in the Republican controlled House of Representatives in 2013 where it died.
I’m not a Rangel fan on most issues but on this one he is right. The wealthy elites have effectively opted out of military service for their children resulting in the poor and low income people of all races being disproportionately represented in the military. Meanwhile, it is the wealthy and privileged who make the decisions to send the military into harms way. If their children were on the front lines, decisions with respect to deploying and supporting the military would likely be made differently.
I also agree with Rangel on the war tax. During the second half of the 20th century, and first years of this century, the US government has started or intervened in countless expensive wars and conflicts around the globe using borrowed money. If war is necessary, it should be paid for by taxing the citizens electing the politicians deciding to intervene militarily around the planet, not by simply adding the bill to the perpetual deficit.
War is a serious matter and if a nation goes to war all of its citizens should bear the cost in blood and money. If the citizens aren’t willing to pay the price, the nation should not go to war. I suspect our founding fathers, who warned about “foreign entanglements” would strongly agree.
Require the President to obtain a declaration of war from Congress before using military force against other nations (this includes drone attacks), put the sons and daughters of Wall Street executives on the front lines, and stick a 10% “war tax” income tax surcharge on all taxpayers when the nation is engaged in hostile acts with its military, and the foreign policy of this nation would be conducted very differently.
No Republican of the McCain, Romney, Bush, Rove, McConnell, and Boehner generation is going to support a military draft or a war tax. They are leaders of the party of no accountability.
The mighty American military without Christian control is the same military as Germany had in WWII. I would not trust our current military leaders to conduct an honorable war in our name.
(What happens when 50% of the drafted soldiers must be female?)