Breaking the Law

THE UNITED STATES, the President, the public and Congress have rushed into draft registration. The move had scarcely a shred of military justification; its main impetus was a dangerous desire to "do something about the Russians." However, refusing to register is a drastic step, one not justified by the actual magnitude of the new law.

Those who refuse should remember that they are not just protesting a foreign policy they find immoral and imperialistic. They will also be breaking the law. This law was passed not by a few old men, but by legal process with the support of a majority of the American people as measured by several opinion polls. It thus got every support which society, as a whole, could give it. Of course, this law, like every law, hurts someone. But if every hurt individual refuses to obey a law, and succeeds, then there will be no law. Society will be unable to order itself for the common good: the only goods people will have will be hose they can get for themselves.

Protesting against the new law will not be like the protests of the 1960s. At that time, people were actually being drafted to fight an ongoing, specific, unjust war. Now, those who refuse to register will be protesting a policy course. They will be protesting a draft which has not yet started and an immoral war which has not yet occurred. One cannot use possible future events to justify mass lawbreaking today.

Concerned students ought to resist those who wish to bring an actual military draft into reality. At the same time, resistance through breaking the law ought to be the very last step one takes. One should do it only when it becomes certain that one must either defy the law or be immediately forced into losing one's rights. That time has not come.