Return The Draft

IN 1980, of 1,00,860 men serving their first tour of duty in the Army, 25 had college degrees. Roughly one-fortieth of one per cent. Those figures in mind, we call for a resumption of the draft for military service--not only in the interests of fundamental justice, but also in the hope of changing the military and foreign policies of this nation.

The conscription program we support would reestablish a lottery for all men and women aged 20 through 24, if drafted, men and women would serve in one of the four arms of our nation's military for two years. No exemptions would be granted for any reason other than unfitness to serve and conscientious objector status. And the system of deferments for college students would be wiped out. We realize that in endorsing such a proposal, we join with the reactionaries of every stripe in this nation; we hope, though, to set forth a fresh and progressive justification for the draft as a tool for both military and social reform.

In the years since the abolition of the draft in the early 1970s, the armed forces have been manned by poor people and racial minorities--there is no quarreling with that fact. In a society where unemployment is permitted--indeed encouraged--to flourish, the service has become an employer of last resort for those denied jobs elsewhere in our inhumane economy. In a sense, then, there is already a draft in our nation, a draft that passes over those with enough money, education or connections to do something else.

But there are other, more positive, reasons for a draft. Militarily, a draft that yielded a broad cross-section of the population couldn't help but improve the readiness of a force that has been plagued in recent years by illiteracy and low levels of education. As well, a democratic army would mean a return to an earlier day when people of different classes and backgrounds in this nation occasionally got to know one another.

But the strongest arguments for a draft may not be military or social. Instead, for Americans concerned about immoral uses of America's power in the last two decades, the best justifications may be political.

A nation where every man's son or daughter is a potential soldier is a nation less likely to go to war for a bad cause. One refrain from the Vietnam era was that, if the draft had not exempted the sons of Congressmen and corporate leaders, the conflict would have ended sooner or perhaps never begun.

The reasoning should be carried further, though. There are fundamental questions this country must answer about the extent and the uses of its military power. As it stands now, the sector of this nation with the most influence in those decisions is shielded from the costs. The chance they or their children would have to serve in the military will induce Americans to confront once more the issues Vietnam presented.

Valid objections to a peacetime--or a wartime--draft exist, but they are outweighed by the possible benefit. Critics of a draft argue that the all-volunteer force is meeting enlistment goals and improving in quality; hence, they contend, a draft is unnecessary. Not only does the argument ignore basic questions of fairness as outlined earlier, it also makes the assumption that all we should worry about is having enough bodies in uniform. We too want full enlistments; as we have said above, we also think a whole host of military, social and political ends are served by changing the method by which those bodies are selected.

A corresponding argument is that the current political climate is wrong for a draft; that we would be sending dangerous signals to the rest of the world by imposing conscription at this time. We bitterly oppose the militaristic overtones of our nation's foreign policy, which is one reason we want a draft, anticipating, as we have said, that it will temper our conduct in the world. And whatever other signals it sends, a no-exemptions draft will make clear to the rest of the world that this is one country where the sons and daughters of the privileged class help with the nation's most basic chores.

The draft has always been a troubling issue for American progressives. On the one hand, traditional fears of militarization have militated against a draft but reconciling an army of the poor with other traditional notions about economic and social justice has been very hard--and very damaging to others' perceptions of American liberalism. We don't think the traditional approach has worked, and are hopeful that a class-blind draft--by making the entire society share the costs of our defense--will be more productive in achieving our ends.