The Draft and Freedom

2002-10-6 14:23:00

Larry Responds
(5) There is no draft - and this is a biggie

Registration for a draft does still exist and currently about 1.8 million 18-year-old men register each year (about a 91 percent compliance rate among all men who must register). If a young man wishes to receive financial assistance in college then he must have registered for the draft. So the reality is that the draft still exists, and could be fully functional in short order if the military requirements of the United States were perceived to require it.

The government and the military learned the lesson in Vietnam that reluctant draftees who don't see a compelling need for their sacrifice make very poor soldiers. After the Vietnam War there was much more emphasis on creating a professional military (similar in concept to the professional military that the British Empire used to rule its far-flung empire).

It is instructive to look at the makeup of the American soldiers who fought recently in Afghanistan. A large number (perhaps almost all?) were what are euphemistically called "special forces" which in reality means highly trained professional military.

In contrast the American soldier in WWII was the true civilian-soldier who honored his country's call, but had no intention of staying in the military one minute beyond what was necessary to win the war. Similarly the vast majority of Americans who fought to win independence from Britain were civilian-soldiers. Those whom they fought were professional military.

In a very real sense the fact that the United States is _not_ currently using a draft, but is fighting wars large and small around the globe using a professional military is a sign of increasing, not decreasing tyranny. A professional military gives the government far more independence to wage war than it would have if it depended on civilian-soldiers who need to see a compelling reason for their sacrifice.

So no, I don't in any way believe that a perceived (but not real) lack of a draft in reality reflects greater freedom. It perhaps reflects the very selfish interests of a people too spoiled by material success to consider it a duty to defend their country.

JJ
We fought our most disastrous war with a draft - Vietnam.

Of course I realize we still register for the draft. This is thought essential for national security in case of a major conflict. This has nothing to do with the point I made and thus I did not mention it.

The fact is there has been no draft since the seventies and there still is no draft, a point of fact not open to refute.

I thought that this would be seen as a no brainer - that it is a good thing. I much prefer the current situation where if you feel are attracted to military service or feel the cause of a rising conflict is just, you can volunteer rather than be forced into a situation which may not fit your internal constitution.

I, for the life of me, cannot see why a greatly expanded freedom of choice could be seen as the road tyranny.

The country can fight all the wars it wants with drafted solders just as it can with volunteers. I would rather have someone fighting for me who signed up on his own free will and has an inner constitution that adapts to the military than one who "loathes the military" and is forced kicking and screaming into defending my country.

Larry
(6) There is much less censorship through the media. What facts do you base this statement on?

JJ
I covered this in a response to Susan.

Larry
"The problem with lumping the United States in the same tyrannical category as North Korea or Iraq it takes two very different governing situations and making then appear to be equal or the same, and they are not."

While this is definitely true, it is also a "straw man" argument in the context of what has been discussed here so far. I don't know of anyone here who is comparing the U.S. to N. Korea, or saying that the U.S. is presently like N. Korea.

I find this very frustrating when you make these sort of "straw man" arguments. When you do you are not addressing the real concerns that people have raised, and you are insulting their intelligence.

JJ
I do not understand how I am insulting anyone's intelligence. The fact is that several have used the word "tyranny" in describing the United States and this gives the impression we are in the same category as Iraq. I am doing my best to make the point that different words should be used so the readers of these posts will see some differentiation in judgment which I am sure we all have. I have been doing this with as much gentleness as possible and I do not see the straw man here.

What real concern do you have that I have not addressed?

Keep in mind that the past couple days I have been writing every spare moment even putting off business needs and there are still a number of important points I have not covered. It's quite possible that it has been humanly impossible to get to the points you're concerned about. Hopefully they will all be covered soon.

I was happy to see our harmony on your post on the Freedom Problem. I think that when all is communicated we will agree on the major points.