Good War is worthy of a Good Draft!
Is the author a Leftist?
I don’t know of any Conservative who is actively calling for a reinstatement of the Draft (even though the basic principle of a militia is a Conservative axiom); AFAIK the Left wants the Draft reinstated just so they can use it to beat up the Right.
Bring back the draft.
If a wars worth fighting, everyone should fight it.
If it isnt, everyone will oppose it as unjust.
Thats the way it should be in a democracy.
Did I purposefully not include females? Yes!
Since we don't have the money to support a military large enough to draft every eighteen year old, there will still be picking and choosing who gets drafted. Even in WW II my grandfathers were on the high end of the age limit and were determined to have jobs necessary for the war effort so they stayed home.
Did not read the article (but I might, I like Joe Epstein), but bear in mind that if a draft if reinstated without a lot of other things changing (or changing back maybe I should say) the WILL be drafting women.
I, myself, do not support that.
Unfortunately, much too high a percentage of 18 year-olds just simply aren't of a high enough quality, educationally, emotionally, or morally, to fight a modern war.
Instead of preparing for combat, a large portion of the Defense budget would go to either correcting the deficiencies of the draftees or finding make work for them to do until their enlistments are over.
"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
then there’s that whole “involuntary servitude” thing.
And if you don't take everyone, you have to run a lottery as we did during Vietnam (I could tell stories about my draft physical) or some other method of selection that would be ruthlessly gamed by the lazy as it was before. You also lose the societal advantages of everybody serving. I get that argument, absolutely, but the military can't support it.
That could be done in the U.S. but it'd be an enormous Reserve - not just the 4.4 million I cited above but that many each year. If you maintain that Reserve for any time at all you're talking tens of millions of people. Try to imagine what that would cost.
Mind you, I'm not dismissing the concept of some sort of national service (even though I find it objectionable on other grounds) but the military just isn't suited for it. My opinion only.
No draft, but I’d like to see some “Starship Troopers” style benefits for those who served.
But in a country with 300 million people, that would mean training a far bigger army than could ever be used. That's what led to a plethora of draft exemptions, hence the "unfairness."
Universal Military service, combined with Universal National Service to the country might be a way to go. The other problem is that today's 18 year-olds are generally a lot dumber than a sixth-grader in 1950 when it comes to hard or handy factual knowledge. Of course, they're handy with cell phones, video games, and condoms.
The people who cause the wars should be the first to bury their children, not us.
The way it usually works, is that IF any of their sons get sent to war, they are kept far from the action and protected by squadrons of our sons at high cost. These sons, daughters, nieces and nephews, however, are huge beneficiaries of government largesse.
One can strongly argue that in times of national emergency at least a draft is necessary...if not actually good.I don’t see us as being in such a dire situation today however.