Should the U.S. implement a military draft?

Go Mike

Pros: Bigger military
Cons: Unhappy soldiers (They didn't want to be there), higher taxes, higher military spending on unnecessary soldiers

Overall, no, not until there is a war big enough to need extra powers.

Tristan S

No. When you force people to join the military, you force people who make crap soldiers to go and fight for your country.

I'm a pacifist vegetarian art kid. I've got nothing but respect for our men and women in uniform but there's a reason that I didn't follow in the footsteps of my dad, my brother, my grandfathers, my uncles... would YOU want a guy who won't eat any meat of any sort due to ethical reasons; doesn't like the thought of shooting other human beings unless it's absolutely necessary; and has only a passive degree of respect for power strutcures fighting alongside you? If no, then you don't want me! I'm not a warrior by any stretch, but if there was a draft, well, I'm male, 24, don't have a college degree, am able bodied, and a good shot (just cause I'm a pacifist doesn't mean I can't target shoot). I'd be ordered to report to a local barracks ASAP.

S P

No. Not so much because of any philosophical reasons, just because a conscripted military is vastly inferior to a professional, volunteer military.

Though I doubt that matters much to you, you can't be drafted.

Pliny the Elder

I will leave this to someone else to identify any specific way in which this would help anything.

Implementing a draft would rally support for ending the war. Naturally the common people do not want to be forced into war, and particularly if the reasons for being at war are unclear.

jeeper_peeper321

There is no reason for a draft, since we are already getting enough volunteers.

If we had a draft today, no one would actually be drafted.

A draft, does not by itself make the military larger.

Only Congress can increase the size of the military, something they have already done, in 2004 they increased the Army by 70,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 20,000 marines.

No draft was needed.

All a draft does, is allow the military to conscript enough people, to meet the military manning levels if there are not enough volunteers.

It doesn't make everyone enlist !!!!!!!!!!!

A draft would be good in it would install discipline in some of the kids in the country that would otherwise grow up thinking that everything in the world is entitled to them. It would also help lower the obesity rate for men in their 20s since there would be enough activity to keep their weight down (I know we have obese troops but they get kicked out if they don't loose the weight in a reasonable time).

The bad thing would be the massive protests by people who reject military service and the draftees who intentionally misbehave because they don't want to be there. Volunteers usually make better troops.

If the draft was bought back it would not be considered illegal by the Thirteenth Amendment as explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States#Legality

People who argue that theory are just trying to find a way out of serving their country and would probably sit back and let the country get overrun by a cruel dictatorship instead of fighting.

darrell m

there is no need of one at the present moment or in the fore see able future.

foreign minister the 13th amendment to the US Constitution does not apply to the draft. it is not slavery first and for most, neither is it Involuntary servitude as ruled by the Supreme court In Butler v. Perry.

candy g

not really, there are enough people still going in as a choice, but to reply to some one that said they are off to canada, opps sorry hun THAT door was closed some years ago.

Laura [tangerine atheati]

Man, such cowards on here. You like it here in the US, you eat and live here in the US, you enjoy the freedoms and liberties awarded by the US....yet you run to Canada if you have to fight for the US.

Whether or not you feel the war you are being drafted for is "legitimate", why would you not stand by your country when it needs/wants you? It did the same for you back when you wanted roads, and public education...

Pros of a draft is that the military can fulfill its levels to adequately fight, it weasils out the cowards of the country, and if done right it can get the job done.

Cons is that people will be angry, plus you get a lot of crappy soldiers who don't know how to hold a gun.

I would enlist in the military myself if they would take me (but I have a thyroid problem which disqualifies me). Oh, and I'm a democratic liberal...not your usual pro-military freedom fighter.

Overall, the US should not implement a military draft as there is no need at the moment

Ellie H

The only time that the U.S. is allowed to implement a military draft according to the constitution is only if it is an emergency or we have declared war. Reading the Wikipedia saying that it was constitutional, it said (Justice William O. Douglas, in voting to hear the appeal in Holmes, agreed that the government had the authority to employ conscription in wartime, but argued that the constitutionality of a draft in the absence of a declaration of war was an open question, which the Supreme Court should address.) Right now there is no need for the U.S. to implement a draft, because there is no declaration of war, and no danger. Our military is not made to police the streets of other countries, but rather to fight and protect our country, there is no threat right now.

italianlover1984

Not until NATO is dissolved and the world stacks itself up against us. Until that day, no draft is needed. I hate to say it, but there are plenty of impoverished out there to fill the needs of the military...its sad really. I think all sons and daughters of our elected officials should be made to fight. And not in cushy jobs, I mean really be in combat.

Penguino

No....Our all vol structure works just fine, thank you!

Common Sense

I was going to say it, but S P already gave the absolute correct answer, no list of pros and cons needed.

But a note to S P - even though females can't be drafted, it doesn't mean that they aren't affected. Unfortunately, everyone can be affected by a draft, because everyone can be affected by war in general. The draftee may pay a heavy price, even the ultimate price, but the price paid at home extends to many. Parents lose a son, siblings lose a brother, a wife loses her husband, and children lose their father.

J.J.

I think I'm going to move to Canada

Speak freely

Hell NO! I won't serve, I believe that war is nothing but legalized mass murder! I would move to Canada before I would ever serve in the military or a war!

Foreign Minister

A draft is unconstitutional. It violates the 13 Amendment. If Congress wants to impose a draft without first getting the 13 Amendment repealed, as they illegally did in the Vietnam era, then I will not recognize the unconstitutional dictates of a tyrannical government.

denfly

no way. the quality of todays youth is fair due many being obese, drug/alcohol addicted, suffer from some sort of mental illness , drop outs and ones with a criminal history. this is a sad state the u.s. is in and in no way should we implement a draft at this time.

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