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Why Progressives Should Support the Draft

By Frank Shaeffer  Posted by Brian Wolf (about the submitter)       (Page 2 of 3 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   8 comments
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* Civilian leadership of the military is weakened as civilian leaders without military experience are hesitant to tell those with experience what to do, as is in pathetic evidence in Congress, while at the same time people in the military wonder if their civilian leaders have their best interests at heart

* Wars drag out since for most Americans, our wars -- out of sight and out of mind -- cost "nothing..."

* We are not, "all in it together." The military is no longer a level playing field contributing to the melting pot factor and integration of our society...

* We have created a military class that sees itself as more patriotic, more American and more decent than the rest of society and looks down on those who do not serve

* The all-volunteer military is in fact an all-recruited military with recruiters concentrating on the "most productive" parts of society with need-based recruiting that has less to do with patriotism and more to do with a paycheck, benefits and health insurance

* Patriotism and service have become the professionalized commodities of military "specialists..."

* The line between and all volunteer force and a mercenary force has blurred

* The democratic tradition of citizen participation is going out the window

*The use of "contractors" in Iraq, where there are 160,000 contractors as opposed to 140,000 troops, means that the mercenary aspect of our military is being formalized with a second shadow military made up of those who have served in the official military becoming freelance mercenaries for much higher pay. (It also means that actual American casualty rates are much higher than reported because our contractors don't "count").

The result of these changes is a threat to American democracy. There won't be a coup, but the all-volunteer force is a threat because fewer citizens are involved hands-on in participating in our democracy at one of the most meaningful levels -- military service. It also gives a free ride to military religionists such as John McCain who can place themselves above criticism by simple virtue of service, something that used to be widely shared and is now regarded as special.

If you want to know why the war in Iraq has dragged on, the answer is simple: it doesn't involve you or your children personally. If you want to know why McCain is called a patriot, even though he is planning to bankrupt America and kill more of our children, it's because today in the all-volunteer era he can claim special exemption from common sense (even economic reality) in the name of past service that is seen as exceptional.

The most fundamental question about our military (and how to avoid more dumb wars) is this: should military service (or some alternate form of service to the nation) be included in the circle of those civic duties that all citizens owe, like paying taxes, voting and jury duty? If not, why not? And would a draft restore sanity to calculations about when and where to use force?

If the case against the draft is that the military doesn't want one, so what? Since when is military policy determined by anyone except our civilian leaders and those they represent? What the military wants is beside the point. The issue isn't what's good for the military, but what is good for the country.

America was founded by farmers, tradesmen, statesmen (and bankers) who were military men when circumstances called for it. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and others did not want a country with a military culture, but they expected their countrymen to serve the nation when needed, when asked legitimately, without reservation.

Throughout the country's history, the story of military service has been a story of "plus-up" during crisis, and "draw-down" in the immediate aftermath of peace. The country maintained a navy and its marine corps, but not a standing army. This continued until the mid-twentieth century.

For most of this time, American citizens moved in and out of military duty when called, regardless of party and less constrained by class than today. There was no "military constituency" per se, nor could either party lay claim to it. In fact, it was popular to refrain from voting while serving in the military as a matter of principle, a way to demonstrate that all things military were unrelated to politics.

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