Do most DUers support the draft?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1672332&mesg_id=1672332

If you agree with the majority in this poll, and you don't support the draft -- why not?

do you think they do? The poll asks how people will be fooled into going into another war. Not if DUers want the draft.

I've been wrestling with the fact that the absence of a draft translates to easier foreign military involvement for those in power.

cause I have boots on.

I will not support the draft particularly at a time when this country seems to want to invade every country that it does not approve of. Particularly when young men in women's lives are being ruined in that Vietnam with sand called Iraq. I will more likely support those who defy the draft than support it. Only if the country was truly in danger of a direct attack than I would reconsider but let's face the fact that the draft is wrong!


John

there would have been no involvement in that Vietnam in the sand, then you have a circular point there.

of each and every person who voted to keep a traitor in office so the endless war could continue.

Hand 'em all a uniform, a weapon, and a one-way ticket to Iraq. The war will be over in a week.

It asks a hypothetical question about something that never occurred.
It's not a good judge for evaluating whether DU members support the draft. From reading posts on DU, it seems clear to me most members oppose the draft. Why? They don't want to fight in a war they see as illegitimate.

I actually think a draft would be a good idea, because it would force all of us to bear the burdens of war. There would also need to be an option for non-combat public service. It's easy, however, for me to take that position, since I'm a 43 year old woman with back problems. The military wouldn't take me. I imagine if I were 19, I'd feel quite differently.

And I know I'll be confronted about this, the real issue is that the military does not want a draft. They believe that their forces are more highly motivated and professional with an all volunteer recruiting system. What's scary, though, is that the Army is now confronted with a shortage of recruits, the first such shortage in many years, and that could change things. For myself, I agree with the poster who stated that a draft could really only be justified if our nation were facing imminent invasion. Which has not happened since the War of 1812.

I can't come up with any reason why I should have to die for a chimp war and I sure as hell can't come up with any reason why my family should kill or be killed.

As much as I'd like to send all the young pukes off to a war, I don't even want them to go, because more innocent Iraqi children would die as a result of them being there.

Having a draft would give chimp even more power to invade other countries.

I dont support FORCING someone to go fight a war...

At the same time, the current system we have just feeds off of "poor" and "troubled" kids, while middle class and rich kids have parents who "protect" them from the military.

You go to the rich 'burbs and you see parents organizing around the "No Child Left Behind" provision that requires the military to get high school student info for recruiting purposes....all the rich parents are making sure the recruiters dont get their names, etc. But, no one is fighting for the poor kids.

So, I feel mixed. Perhaps we'd be less likely to go to war if it truly were forced upon rich kids...but, as long as poor kids are dying, no one will care.

For years - even during the Viet Nam war, a lot of rich boys could get out of being drafted with "school deferments". The poor kids whose parents couldn't afford to send them to college, or who did not have good enough grades to get into a college, were packed off to 'Nam to serve as cannon fodder.

are the ones who have to be in the military.

If there's a draft, I support there being no way out of it...so that rich kids are subject to it the same as poor kids.

I also oppose the draft because I suspect that if we did have a draft, rich people would find a way to avoid being drafted and the burden of fighting the war would be on the shoulders of the lower, working, and lower-middle classes.

On the other hand, having an all-volunteer military makes it easier for people to ignore the war in Iraq. They are not concerned about the war because they have convinced themselves that all the soldiers who are in Iraq want to be there and all that is necessary to "support the troops" is to buy a yellow ribbon magnet to put on the back of their cars. If we had a draft, we might have more people interested in opposing and protesting the war.

"We are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights"
doesn't say anything about at the pleasure of the draft board.
Indeed, conscription by the British Navy press gangs was one of
the causes of both the American Revolution and the War of 1812.

In those days, people fled from Britain to America to avoid the draft.

It is impossible to make any draft fair. The rich and powerful will
always find ways of protecting their kids -- if they have to go into
the military it all, they will follow the President's example and get
assigned to some champagne unit. Others will find a friendly doctor
to get a medical exemption. But eliminating medical exemptions would
be an even greater injustice. Even many who are not disabled are not
cut out for the military. Some don't even survive basic training.
http://braxtonian.com/extra/JasonsTharpsLetters_SundayGazetteMail.html

Of course, a draft would give Boosh** an unlimited supply of cannon fodder.
If the draft were in effect, he would have invaded Syria and Iran by now (in addition to Afghanistan and Iraq, of course).

the reason the right is so "pro life".

oh, I don't know, it just seems kind of dumb to make people die for absolutely no reason??

if the voter always demanded a good "reason" for war -- since he or she would also be subject to the consequences?

only if this country is attacked by foreign forces on our own soil and our people have to fight in their own yards. Otherwise, it's conscription, which is nothing more than taking away more of our freedom.

And as I stated a while back in another post, even Smedley Butler, a retired Marine General in the 1930's, eventually came to the same conclusion, that war is only justified as a means to defend our own nation from invasion. He became a pacifist in later life, and wrote a book which I believe he titled, "War is a Racket".

Is your question do most support the idea of a draft generally or in the case of the current war?

I meant generally -- not "get into deep shit and then draft".

They voted for this bastard...THEY can send THEIR babies. He will NOT get mine.

...for those who voted for a republican representative or senator, but Kerry for president? Or, the other way around?

In addition, does that mean that you would do away with secrecy of voting?

for a Bush war...ever. I don't care how they do it. Repukes ONLY should serve. THEY wanted the bastard in office knowing full well he's a warmongering asshole. They can send their kids. He's not getting mine. If someone voted for Kerry and repuke reps & Senators...they should have known better! They are now wreaking HAVOC on our country and the world AND furthering the warmonger's agenda.

I don't have any kids, but I'll tell you that I will never fight in a Bush war, no matter what the repercussions.

Or most any war, for that matter.

But this is more of a socio-philosophical issue. Does the voter have the right to vote for a war that only others will fight -- both in terms of those in his or her country who "volunteered to join the military", and those in other countries who face being attacked?

The Iraqis never volunteered to fight either. And yet, maybe because it was so easy for Bush to start a war -- since most in America aren't affected in any direct way, or at least that's what they think -- they are forced to fight it, civilian and military.

It's easy for us to say "the draft is unamerican" or whatever, while people in other countries are being forced to fight wars ultimately supported by the American voter from his or her cushy arm-chair.

It's easy for you or me -- middle-class most likely, as most here are -- to say "no way are they coming to draft me" because we have that choice. Many poor families didn't.

In other words, there may not have BEEN an Iraq war if there had been a draft in place.

Had the repukes had any chance of THEIR kids being drafted...Iraq more than likely wouldn't have happened.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I wanted to answer your question. ;)

Since the U.S. seems hell-bent on self-destruction via fear and denial, let's unravel sooner than later, mkay?

A military draft will provide a flashpoint. Collapse will only gain steam from there ... then, alas, national rebirth.