Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
Charles Rangel’s proposal to reinstate the draft is silly. If only 5% of the people who comment on Little Green Footballs enlist, as I am sure these non-hypocritical supporters of the war on terror will soon do, the military would have more people than it would know what to do with.
Seriously, as I said on October 21, I have mixed feelings about the draft, as there are both anti-freedom and democratic elements to it. I’m uncomfortable with the “chickenhawk” argument because I do believe that there has to be civilian control of the military in a democratic society. At the same time, I can’t help but find it a bit objectionable that so many of the architects and supporters of the “war on terror” have not served in the military and do not have children serving in the military. If they really believe in the “war on terror,” it would seem they would want to make every contribution they could.
On a related note, it wouldn’t surprise me if starting up the draft again becomes an idea that is seriously discussed in the next few years. Sooner or later the “war on terror” will likely run into some serious U.S. military causalities and I suspect that if that does happen, that many young people who would otherwise have signed up for the military won’t do so. Since only a small percentage of the population even considers entering the military, this could lead to a shortage in the number of soldiers even as the “war on terror” remains popular. posted by micah holmquist at 1/05/2003 11:46:00 AM