Tongue Tyed: Back to the Future II: The Draft

May 9, 2006

Back to the Future II: The Draft

I have a few political friends out there reading this blog o' mine, and I am just wondering, as a spin-off of my last post and this post over at Dylan's place, what do you think would happen in this country if a draft was reinstated?

Think of it this way, the likelihood that we will be engaged in a three front war is looking increasingly likely, and yet, we don't have enough troops for the two fronts we are already dealing with. There are very few ways to satisfy this problem. At this point, no amount of PR or advertising can change the opinions about military service for the vast majority of 18-34 year olds (either it is an option for your life, or it isn't--I don't think there is a whole lot of fence sitting anymore), and raising military salaries can only go so far to help recruiting before the country is up in arms about increased government spending and taxes. It looks quite plausible therefore, that we might need a draft again in the not so distant future.

If that were to happen, what do you think would happened to the immigration issues we are facing? It would be hard (and most probably illegal) to draft illegal immigrants, so really they would be "safe." But new citizens would be fair game. Do you think the massive protesting populations would be silent in the path of a draft? Do you think the government would push through legislation to add 7 million currently illegal and untouchable people to the draft registries? Do you think people who were illegal would return to their countries to avoid American citizenship and the possibility of being drafted?

I don't know what would happen, but I would love to hear your takes on the situation.

posted by Ty @ 5/09/2006

2 Comments:

At 10:51 PM, May 09, 2006, Dylan said...: I replied to this over at my place too, Ty, but it is apropos here:

I just don't think a draft is likely, as politically unpopular as this administration is today, there is no way they could muster through enough support to reinstate a draft. Hell, they can't muster up enough REPUBLICAN support on their new CIA nominee.

And that is, in a way, what results in situations like this. The recruiters have to get people... I mean they HAVE to, and now they are stopping at nothing to get it done.
At 4:08 PM, May 10, 2006, Anonymous said...: Ty,

I agree with Dylan. Its now a high pressure sales job. I think that it will become supply and demand at this point. As the demand goes up, so will the commisions paid to recruiters, and the incentives to enlist.

-JG

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