Anyone feel a draft?

Maine Today ^ | 4/11/04 | Donald N. Zillman

[cardinal4]

Prominent lawmakers such as Rep. Charles Rangel of New York and others argue that our volunteer military is not representative of society, and that it offends fairness to have casualties in Iraq disproportionately drawn from members of America's less advantaged classes.

Isnt that contradictory? I mean, if its all volunteer, how can it offend fairness?

[Indie]

I do feel a draft, but only if EfnK is elected along with a Ratfink majority in Congress. [Of course, the Rats would use our military for foreign PC social experiments rather than the defense of our country and its vital interests..with AR15 clips empty of course so as not to offend]

[Bogey78O]

The author is wrong about all this priviledged crap stuff.

Vietnam war:

Raw stats:
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/vietnam_war_casualty_lists/statistics.html

Crunched numbers:
http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html

Iraq war:
http://www.dior.whs.mil/mmid/casualty/OIF-Deaths-After.pdf

I couldn't find crunched stats on it.

Vietnam mirrored America.

[prion]

The only reason anyone's pushing for the draft is to try and make Bush and the Iraq war as hated as possible. How can they turn this into a proper Vietnam without the draft?

We've got plenty of troops to do what we need to, especially if we stop providing defense for countries that should be providing it for themselves.

[gilliam]

He's been calling for a draft ever since 9/11.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

This is merely an attempt to make more people anti-war, and thus anti-Republican. I wonder if, with all the "equality of the genders" talk, a draft would have to include women?

[kabar]

Latest Dem ploy to get votes. There is no chance that the draft will be reinstituted. The Dems are trying to scare young voters and foster an antiwar movement.

[Sam Cree]

I suggest Rangel apply the same standards to professional basketball.

Use government authority to ensure that every team is represenatative of whatever mixture of society government decides is fair.

'Course that's totalitarianism, but what the hey, isn't government's main job looking out for the little guy?

[Rams82]

I can only see a draft if The war is expanded in the middle east to Iran and Syria and North Korea and China wanna start trouble.

[ovrtaxt]

Oh! When I saw the title, I thought this was about drafting Hillary since JKff seems to be such a failure.

Months ago, Rumsfeld nearly laughed when some reporter brought up the possibility of a draft.

[meenie]

The necessity of the draft hinges on the direction the United States takes from a military and diplomatic standpoint. If we are going to continue to play policeman to the world we definitely need a draft. We also have to decide how much we can continue to support with the present economy we have. Nothing would be more catastropic to build our forces to the point where the economy cannot support it. The demise of the Soviet Union in this regard should be a good model to consider.

[cardinal4]

I know he has. I saw him on Hannity one night saying the same thing. But what Im saying is, if people volunteer, how can the outcome be unfair. If theres to be a draft, Ill go, no problem. But I guess Im missing something in Rangels intent..

[beavus]

It is contradictory. It can't be both voluntary and unfair. If it is full of the disadvantaged (and it isn't), then the disadvantaged must see some benefit in it.

is not representative of society

The fact is, a voluntary military is representative of a moral society. Of course, being a Democrat, liberty naturally offends his sensabilities.

Along the same lines, since voluntary forces are known to be higher quality than conscripted ones, being a Democrat, he fears US military victory.

[Jack Black]

A previous thread on this topic was pulled by the admins, not sure why. This one starts with a good article so hopefully we can discuss this topic now.

As I stated on the other thread rather than a draft I would prefer to revert to the older American tradition of Volunteer units privately organzied and put at the service of the Commander in Chief in time of war.

I only became really aware of this as a result of looking at a statue in downtown Portland, Oregon which honors the Oregon Second Volunteer Infantry which fought in the Spanish American war, one of our little remembered conflicts.

Like the present endevour it was fought to free a subject people from opression, was widely opposed at the time by some segments of the nation. The Volunteers aquitted them selves well by all accounts. It is often considered the last use of cavalry in a battle by the US Army.

[Sam Cree]

"how can it offend fairness?"

I guess these guys don't see that it can't, but "fairness" is usually the justification for socialism, and thus the justification for totalitarianism.

Kind of ironic that "liberals" don't see that increasing government power and authority usually ends up making things even less fair, not to mention downright miserable.

[Jack Black]

Rangals assertion has been disproven statistically. While there are slightly more Blacks in the Army they are concentrated in less dangerous jobs (by preference, as volunteers choose their speciality). So actual combat deaths end up pretty closely reflecting the nation as a whole.

[edwin hubble]

"But I guess Im missing something in Rangel's intent.."

Rangel's intent is simple: He wants to be an effective demagogue.

He cannot stop a war in which there are ample patriotic volunteers lining up to fight. (there are)

He can only stop a war which drafts the unwilling.

[Seruzawa]

Any nation that cannot raise enough volunteers to defend itself does not deserve to be defended.

There are few things in history easier to do than raise an army. A nation that cannot raise one voluntarily is not worth fighting for.

[Lucretia Borgia]

Prominent lawmakers such as Rep. Charles Rangel of New York and others argue that our volunteer military is not representative of society

They're right. Our volunteer military is not representative of our society. It's much better than most of our society: braver, more honorable, and more moral.

Why in God's name would we want to bring our military down to the point where it is representative of our current society?