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[agbdf]

753. A Draft?

No way. I don't think a draft will discourage militarism. Some of our most militaristic times were when we had a draft. Nor would a draft necessarily include the rich as, historically, they have always found an out through school deferments or other ways. Also, our Army is soon to be the smallest it's been since pre-WWII at a little over 400,000 activity duty. Each year there are over 3 million young people who become of age and are considered fit for military service. Where would you put these people? You would have to create another 30 plus divisions and supporting units as well as headquarters. This would cause our defense budget to skyrocket to an unsustainable and unaffordable level.

If everyone doesn't end up serving (3 million a year) then how do we decide who would serve and who wouldn't be forced to serve and therein is the potential for mass injustice and inequality. Would you just draft the fifty percent who are males? That won't fly. Do you just draft those who aren't going to college? Even more unfair and beneficial to the rich. Are you ready to massively increase the size of the Army to WWII levels? Even if we could afford this(and we can't) how would it decrease militarism or military adventurism? Do you really think our politicians would just treat this new mega military as a parade force and not actually find things for it to break and people for it to kill?

President Obama is transforming our military into a small, highly trained and exceptionally mobile force. This is the best strategy for the future of our military and not conscription. I like Salon but, I don't think that they have thought this out very well.