Event: Iraq / Vietnam / Support for a Universal Draft.

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Daily Kos: No Chips In This Game

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I've thought for a long time now that we ought to (that all democracies ought to) have a universal draft. On a practical level, it would solve almost innumerable problems. An expanded military could approve shorter deployments and distributed them more reasonably. In peacetime, the large number of personnel would also allow for the service to take in essential understaffed civil service jobs, disaster relief, and so forth. Again, the numbers involved allow a built-in flexibility to this arrangement, depending on the needs of the military and various civil sectors. Despite all this, mandatory length of enlistment could be reduced across the board. One year following high school, for example, could be a standard, with options tailored to individuals' post-high school plans. A universal draft would also mean that the military would contain a more representive segment of the U.S. population, meaning a two-way investment of each in the other's policies. The political cost of an unpopular war would soar if virtually every 18-19 year old American was involved in some way. It may not be a prescription against unjust wars (– we would, in fact, have to wrestle with a tendency toward an even greater military hybris –) but conscription would certainly work against waging frivolous wars (eg. the war we're fighting now).

Changing tacks a little:

The DailyKos post above objects to the notion that the draft decisively contributed to the urgency of Vietnam protests... the poster thinks that this was a diminution of the prosters' efforts. As for "decisive contribution," I think that the fact is so evident as to not demand an argument here. At any rate, admitting that the draft was an impact does not, itself, repudiate Vietnam protests. First, the fact that protest is self-interested does not render it illegitimate. The presence of an uneven and unjust draft gave protesters an investiture in the consequence of war that most of us lack today. From that perspective, today's antiwar movement is more emaciated of nuance than that of the Vietnam war. It follows that we cannot talk about the lack of energy of today's antiwar movement relative to Vietnam without acknowledging the effect of a draft. While a selective draft – whether fueled by paid exemptions (a la the Civil War) or de facto paid exemptions (a la Vietnam) – is fundamentally unjust, it is in effect scarcely better than the informal military caste system at work in the U.S. today.

The similarities between these two wars and the different responses they've provoked (across the political spectrum) reveals a split on the part of both parties from their ideology. Pro-war holdouts, traditionally in favor of a robust military, spending increases, and often a more aggressive foreign policy, will say what they will to shore up their votes, but on the whole, they don't want a draft. A draft involves the public in a contentious debate. They (pro-war Republicans) are, after all, a minority now, but they've still gotten to have their war. Likewise, Democrats, in confronting military policy en toto, must embrace a superficial check on personal liberty - the draft - in order to liberate civic duty from the bias of class and situation. Any nation requires a nominal check on its citizen's civil liberties. It is therefore important not to merely constrain these limitations as much as possible, but also to see that limitations and duties are distributed evenly and fairly?

What am I saying?

In a tangential sense, I'm saying that the antiwar movement needs to up its game, because it isn't showing much so far.

My larger point, though, is that I would support a universal draft, and you should too.

Any truly liberal outlook involves a commitment to a balanced share of privilege and responsibility among citizens. With respect to military service, this can only be reconciled in something that either ammounts to conscription or to the abolishment of armed service altogehter. Since I think we'll agree that the latter is impractical, we have to find a way to make its alternative fair and acceptible.

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Jeff Danziger: 9/6/2006