The Draft

Got an email about some proposed legislation to reinstate the draft. Not a bad idea. And I agree college, etc shouldn't be an excuse not to serve.

I don't think an all volunteer army is inherently good because it basically means the poor folks without much opportunity end up doing the physical fighting for the better off. To me, that's pretty un-American.

UPDATE: Stephanie sends an email "...But are you CRAZY??? Reinstate the draft???? I read your publicmusings
posting, and I think that's crazy talk.

"Let's ALL die. Why not? Sounds like fun!""

Perhaps. But here's my response

I wish you would post your comments online, that would be cool. I added the comments feature for that reason, but no one takes advantage.

And yes, I think reinstating the draft would not be a bad idea. One of the principal reasons for the civil rights movement was the integration of the military. The draft during Korea led to many people of vastly different backgrounds to be forced to interact together in the army. Much of the spirit of integration was formed in the military environment where white men and black men were forced to be close to one another and realized - Jesus, we can easily get along with these dudes. Neither one needed to be threatened by one another and hence led to the massive support of the Civil Rights movement. The military with the GI bill also led to more blacks moving into the middle class after WWII and Korea, which also fostered the movement.

Then Vietnam, draft dodging and the post-Vietnam psychosis of the military set in. The war was hugely unpopular and anyone with money or the least bit of an excuse got out of it, did. Consequently, the fighters in Vietnam were just the poor folks - which probably made us stay in that war longer than we should have. Since then, the draft has been banned and we have a professional army. But I've stayed in hotels where they recruit 18-19 kids to join the army. It's a different lot than the kids in freshman dorms at Pomona and Michigan. And it's a little bit scary to me to think that we have a dual level of society growing and growing, between upper/upper middle class and low/lower middle class. There's nothing in between. I know NO ONE in Iraq. Not a soul. I know one or two folks in the army or whatever, ROTC folks. That is problematic. We can't have an army of lesser advantaged people fighting our wars for us. It needs to be fought by all Americans.

In Israel they have a draft and the bonds developed in the army, in service for the country help give Israeli's a patriotism and love for their country that most Americans, and especially most wealthy Americans do not have. It's the old JFK thing, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. I don't think we need everyone to be soldiers. I think a draft where everyone is required to serve a year or two as either a soldier, or a peace corp volunteer, or an Americore Volunteer, (or create more programs, if necessary) would be a great thing for both our country and the young people of our country who are often left dangling out in the real world, without a sense of what to do or how to do it.