Rangel: It’s Time for a War Tax and a Reinstated Draft

[IDemo]

While I am optimistic about our Commander-in-Chief’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, I voted against the Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2015 that would grant the President the authority to provide funds to train and arm Syrian rebels against the enemy. I opposed the amendment because I strongly believe amassing additional debt to go to war should involve all of America debating the matter. That is why I have called for levying a war tax in addition to bringing back the military draft. Both the war surcharge and conscription will give everyone in America a real stake in any decision on going to war, and compel the public to think twice before they make a commitment to send their loved ones into harm’s way.

As a Korean War veteran, I know the plight of war. Our military is the best in the world, but war is unpredictable and chaotic. In the event that the conflict in Iraq and Syria necessitates American troops on the ground, everyone should share the sacrifices instead of the small few who are already carrying that burden.

For a decade I have been calling for the reinstatement of the draft because our military personnel and their families bear a tremendous cost each time we send them to fight. Since 2001, nearly 7,000 soldiers have paid for these wars with their lives. More than 52,000 have been wounded, many narrowly saved by the miracle of modern medicine. The 3.3 million military households have become a virtual military class who are unfairly shouldering the brunt of war. Many men and women in uniform serve multiple tours, as many as 10, and 25 percent of America’s active duty military personnel suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is unacceptable that on average 22 veterans die by suicide every day. If war is truly necessary, we should all come together in defense of our nation, not just one percent of America.

In addition to the significant number of precious lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have accumulated too much debt to finance these wars. The United States has borrowed almost $2 trillion to fund our military engagements on foreign soil. It is estimated that the total cost would be close to $6 trillion; we continue to pay a heavy toll for these conflicts. Each dollar spent on war is a dollar not spent on education, energy, housing, or healthcare. We cannot afford to tread this same path when we are slashing domestic programs that are the lifelines for so many Americans. I will soon introduce a bill that will impose war tax to ensure that we do not have to choose between further gutting the social safety net and adding to the $17.7 trillion of national debt.

http://time.com/3403976/rangel-draft-tax/

[grasswire]

1. seems fair to me nt

[ProfessorGAC]

69. My Concern About The Draft Is In Rangel's Write Up

25% of people coming back from war have PTSD. I don't have data, but it seems more likely someone would suffer PTSD if they didn't even volunteer to do this sort of work.

Now, i know some folks volunteered not knowing they were going there 10 times, and they didn't sign up knowing for sure they were going into a battle zone. But, these wars have been going on for 13 years now, so they certainly weren't surprised that they ended up going. Disappointed, probably. Surprised, doubtful.

Now you take people who didn't sign up for any such activity and send them instead? That sounds traumatic on its face.

I like the war tax idea, though.

[grasswire]

74. don't you think it's time to share the mental anguish?

Isn't it time for some parents of upper crust children to feel the anguish of sending a child to war? Isn't it time for men and women from all segments of society to bear shared sacrifice, not just the men and women who see few options for work in today's economy?

Why should the PTSD be the burden of those who go because those with more momey don't have to? The costs of war must be shared. The financial cost, and the mental, human cost.

[upaloopa]

77. I really get pissed at statements like yours!

I was drafted and went to Vietnam. People like you served on the draft board and talked about sharing the pain. You aren't about to share a fucking thing!
Don't think you are reasonble talking about sending kids to war. Get a fucking gun and put your ass on the line!

[grasswire]

79. thank you for your service, and peace to you

But what would it have been like if only the poor had gone to Vietnam to serve, and there were no jobs at home for young men? No options, as is the case for many now? Yes, there were deferments for college kids then.

War is a racket. We gotta do something to make it disagreeable to those who won't oppose it.

[upaloopa]

83. You should not be involved in sending kids to war

Better you should work for peace and stop sending kids to war.
The draft enabled President Johnson to escalate the war knowing draft boards would send him all the kids he asked for. During the Iraq and Afghan wars we had to send volunteers on deployment over and over which helped is understand the cost of those wars.
It isn't the parents of rich kids you are effecting but it is their innocent kids you are a out to screw up who don't deserve your scorn because they happened to have well off parents.

[upaloopa]

84. And on a side note, you don't have to thank me for my service.

I don't feel I fought for your freedom and no one bothered to thank me back in 1968 when I came home. I was treated like shit for being the right age at the wrong time.

[Egnever]

93. Wow

Good for you!

Not that you were treated like shit but for telling it like it is, instead of the pc bullshit you usually hear.

Thanks for that.

[upaloopa]

96. Well the PC bullshit gets hard to take sometimes.

[ProfessorGAC]

78. I Fear The Percentages Will Get Even Higher

Than you have more people with a higher fraction affected. I see your point, but we're talking about 19 year old kids here. And, the mental anguish is on those very kids who may never properly reacclimate to the rest of life.

Seems like an awfully high price to pay.

[liberal N proud]

80. Upper crust children don't get drafted

[grasswire]

81. a lottery with no deferments...

...except inability to perform the duties. The deferments of the Vietnam era were a travesty, agreed.

[liberal N proud]

82. And you think that would change?

With the upper crust owning Congress more now than they did in the Vietnam era?

There is no way there would ever be a fair draft in this country with such a disparity in incomes.

[reddread]

97. why would we ever presume that the rich would not have a way out?

to do so is sheer fantasy.
its a bullshit distraction being rolled out for the third time in twenty years.

[JaneyVee]

2. Common sense sounds so refreshing.

[Aerows]

18. It comes so rarely from Congress

these days. Thank you, Mr. Rangel.

[Purveyor]

3. I agree 100%. eom

[pnwmom]

4. I DISAGREE 1000%. The reason we got rid of the draft was because it was only the draft

that allowed more than 50,000 Americans to die in Vietnam. We would have pulled out of that extremely unpopular war years earlier if all we had to rely on was the volunteer army.

People who think this is a good idea have forgotten -- or never learned -- the lessons of history. Progressives fought to end the draft for a reason. A draft gives the government an almost unlimited supply of cannon fodder, in whatever cause they have for the moment. No thanks. Not that again.

[tazkcmo]

6. Thank you.

I volunteered and was recalled for Oil War I. Had I been drafted for that war versus holding up my end of a voluntary agreement with my country I would not have reported and would be a fugitive today. In addition to pnwmom's points, the all volunteer force is a vast improvement in quality from the drafted kind we once had.

If there's going to be a draft, it should involve our elected rep's children only provided they vote yes to go to war.

[BuelahWitch]

24. Our service people served tour after tour in the last Oil War

You think that's fair?

[pnwmom]

25. The whole war should never have been fought. But if we had a draft, we'd never have pulled out. n/t

[BuelahWitch]

26. But we're going back, so what's the difference?

[pnwmom]

29. Maybe fifty thousand American lives or more. nt

[kcr]

56. You want to add piles and piles of bodies and ensure the war lasts even longer? n/t

[BuelahWitch]

57. It's silly to imply no draft is making it shorter

How many years have we been at it now? Almost 13 for Afghanistan, a little over ten for Iraq (counting the break).
If parents think their little darlings will have to go over, maybe there will be more public outcry and it WILL stop.
Now they just don't care. It's somebody else's problem.

[Lurks Often]

58. It's just as silly to think as draft might end things

If you are so in favor of a draft, you get to be drafted first.

[BuelahWitch]

59. It will wake people up out of their stupor, that's what I'm saying

BTW, I think they want young, healthy bodies and not 50 year old myopic diabetics. I'll be dead soon enough as it is, dearie.
And I don't see any of the BOG volunteering, why should i?

[Lurks Often]

60. It won't wake people from their stupor

and anyone in favor of a draft gets to go first, regardless of their age or medical condition.

[BuelahWitch]

61. I don't think you get to make the rules

Go run off your Red Bull/capuccino anger high. Buh bye.

[Lurks Often]

62. Lol, I see you're not much different from the politicians you claim to hate

Just like them, you are perfectly willing to send OTHER people to die in an overseas war, but you aren't willing to risk your own life.


And yes, I put my right hand up in 1992 and took the oath to serve my country in uniform.

[kcr]

75. No, I'm implying no such thing.

I don't think the lack of draft factors at all. if anything is sillly, it's thinking a draft will make it shorter. Giving them more canon fodder won't make the war shorter.

[BuelahWitch]

88. A draft, or the threat of one, will wake people up

Not even a draft, just a threat. If parents think their son or daughter is going to be sent overseas they will give their representatives hell. Now it's just "ho-hum" and go back to watching football or dancing with the stars or whatever other drug they're doing because someone else is fighting these wars and they don't have to be bothered.

[Scuba]

48. Wrong. Richard Nixon ended the draft; he's hardly a progressive. The draft made ALL Americans ...

... think about the war and its consequences. It was the draft that turnede Republican families against the war.

The whole reason Nixon ended the draft was to ensure public opinion wasn't colored by fear that "my son" will be drafted.

[pnwmom]

65. Progressives fought to end the draft. Nixon knuckled under when his life was falling apart. n/t

[kelliekat44]

49. Well we need to get rid of old-time "cannon fodder" and not give exceptions for being wealthy and

privileged. Send the children of government, the 1%, and the military as well. No exclusions for college (many wealthy and white could finance the safety of their heirs) or medical school, or Public Health Service.

[pnwmom]

66. They got rid of the academic deferments during the Vietnam war. And there will always be

draft boards that give exceptions to whomever they choose.

[sabrina 1]

64. It also helped stop that war. They learned from that, when every citizen has a stake

in these, now forever, wars, the chances are greater that before too long the public will put a stop to them.

Rangel isn't for all these wars, but he is pointing out that if a war is justified, everyone should be willing to go fight. See WW11, the last necessary war due to the fact that Hitler, a formidable enemy with the means to follow through on his threats, declared war on the US.

He is right to want the whole country involved in these decisions. Bush was totally opposed to a draft for those very reasons.

I remember all the supporters of Bush's illegal war who were safe in their own homes cheering on the lies and propaganda. If they had realized they had to put their bodies where their mouths were, there would have been a lot less support for that disastrous foreign adventure which actually might have been stopped had the entire c ountry had a stake in it.

[pnwmom]

67. It would have stopped years sooner if they'd had to rely on a volunteer army

because they wouldn't have had hundreds of thousands of troops to funnel into it every year.

That's why progressives back then fought so hard to end the draft. We need to learn something from the lessons of history and not make the same mistake again.

[sabrina 1]

68. They now have MERCENARIES to take up the slack. There were over one hundred

thousand 'private contractors' in Iraq to fill in for the lack of necessary troops.

They are still in Iraq, so long as there is even one legitimate Military unit there these Mercs can legally stay there.

What they have done is to privatize these wars. And there is no way Blackwater or Caci or any of the other Mercs are going to try to stop these disastrous wars. Money is their reason for being there, many of them not even Americans.

Rangel is correct. If a war is justified there WILL be a draft. The very fact there has not been for these wars, is proof that they are not being fought for this country.

Did you disagree with the draft for the last necessary war, WW11?

They would have to PROVE the threat they claim if they were going to enlist the entire country. That was not necessary with Iraq because the country had no real stake in it, nor did our Representatives have to explain to those they were sending to war, WHY this was a threat worth the lives of so many people.

[pnwmom]

73. If a war is justified, as in WW2, then people will also volunteer, on their own,

Last edited Mon Sep 22, 2014, 01:27 PM - Edit history (1)

and not because of a threatened draft.

That's what my uncles did, and my grandfathers during WW1.

[NickB79]

71. That war was unpopular BECAUSE OF the draft

It was the threat of being drafted that got many of those protesters out on the streets marching. Since it pulled from every part of the country, and (theoretically) every walk of life, everyone got the chance to see a friend, family member, or loved one sent off to possibly die in a rice paddy halfway around the world.

It put it in people's faces. It prevented them from turning away and ignoring it. The draft brought the war home, and made it real, not just some articles in the newspaper or video on TV.

Today, without a draft, most Americans seem content to just sit back on their asses and "let the troops do their job", because they don't have much invested personally. And that's what let us keep grinding on, and on, and on, in the current wars we STILL find ourselves embedded in.

I respect your opinion, but I think you have it backwards here.

[pnwmom]

91. There were millions of troops involved in that war, so of course it touched most people's families.

Since Vietnam, with a much smaller volunteer force, the government has been forced to limit its engagements. It would be insane for us to flip the switch and go back to the system that allowed Vietnam to last over ten years and kill more than 50,000 Americans.

[Erose999]

87. Agree as well. The well connected will always find a way not to serve. The 1% children will never

find themselves on the front lines no matter how people like Rangel try to spin it.

Unfortunately, the lack of a draft hasn't made the wars we're in now end any sooner. We've been in Asscrack-a-stan and Iraq now longer than we were in Vietnam.

[loyalsister]

5. Everyone should have to think about it when our country decides to join or start a war

It was easy for Bush to get approval for the IWR because congressional members were not overrun with letters and phone calls in opposition. Not my kid, grandkid, sibling, parent, not my problem.
People can afford to be apathetic about happens internationally in our name when all they have to do to avoid thinking about it is avoid news media.
I am more in favor of a war tax than I am a draft. But, I have talked with several people who I respect (including a peace studies prof) who have voiced similar opinions about the draft.

If we were ever to have one again, I think it should include both sexes.

[Warpy]

101. It already includes both sexes

but drafting women in their prime childbearing years is not smart. We can do that when men start sharing the burdens of pregnancy and childbirth.

So fuck that. Also fuck the draft. It didn't do a damned thing to decrease the popularity of the Vietnam War for YEARS. People who believed all the lies that got us into it were totally pigheaded when it came to admitting they were not only wrong, that they had been gullible enough to believe a pack of lies.

Populations are just too damned easy to lie into war. Do we want another madman like Cheney to get his filthy hands on all the children in this country? That is what we will risk with a draft.

No draft. Not now. Not unless this country is being invaded.

Also no war tax unless it is levied on the men who want war the most, the 0.01% who will profit from the misery and death visited upon the 99% who have to fight it. No phone tax that is still paying for the Spanish-American War. No internet tax. No sales tax. No increase in income tax. Nada. Let the rich man pay for his own wars and let him pay to pick up the pieces for the ones how come home shattered in body and/or mind.

War is a filthy business that destroys everybody who faces it. It squanders the treasury and squanders human lives. We need to make it much harder, not easier. A draft and a stupidly targeted war tax would both make it easier. So no.

[djean111]

7. Oh, as if the general populace would have any say in the matter of war.

Oh, I guess we could send our children and our money and hope we still have both for the next elections.
We already give more money for defense than for all other programs, combined.
A war tax, on people who do not want war, is reprehensible.

That is why I have called for levying a war tax in addition to bringing back the military draft. Both the war surcharge and conscription will give everyone in America a real stake in any decision on going to war, and compel the public to think twice before they make a commitment to send their loved ones into harm’s way.

Everyone in America does not make the commitment - Washington does, at the urging of the neocons. Washington cares nothing what America thinks, really, it can take care of that with propaganda.
The only real stake - our money and our children. We get no say in whether we go to another unwinnable war.

[Dale Neiburg]

8. I fought against the draft when we had one

And if this country is ever so idiotic as to bring it back, I'll fight it again.

Just because there's a draft, the Bushes and Cheneys of the nation will always find ways to stay out. And Charley Rangel has been around long enough to know what the troops in Nam looked like. Black men were more likely to be inducted, and much more likely to find themselves in combat. And as far as turning people against the war, I submit that the public turned against the Iraq war without a draft just about as quickly as they turned against the Viet Nam war with a draft.

The only way that a draft will prevent wars is if corporations are drafted instead of humans (they're people after all -- the Repubs tell us so). They'll be compelled to use their resources for war production at DoD whim and paid very low. And then follow Smedley Butler's advice, that for the duration everybody in that company, from the CEO right on down, gets enlisted wo/man's pay and not a penny more.

Drafting young men, or women, won't do anything to prevent wars. The only thing that will accomplish that is to remove war as a profit center.

[Lurks Often]

9. Not this "reinstatement of the draft" crap again

Having a draft has not kept the U.S. out of war in the past and it won't in the future. Aside from that fact that the military does not want a draft again, it stands ZERO chance of making it through Congress.

Anybody in favor of a draft should be the first ones drafted, regardless of age or medical condition.

[sadoldgirl]

10. I would like to rephrase your last sentence to

Everyone in Congress willing to appropriate money for weapons or/and war should be the first one to serve.

[Lurks Often]

23. That's naive nonsense

Last edited Sun Sep 21, 2014, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Who would you want to replace us as the dominant world military power, Russia? China?

The human species has been killing each other since the beginning of recorded history.

[chrisa]

11. I'm not for feeding more lives to the Defense Industry. Giving them money too is insanity.

(Not that we don't already do both)

[GitRDun]

12. NO!

I am not sending my son to the ME to die for another ill-advised stupid quest for the control of oil!

The only reason these military actions take place is 2/3 of the people pay no attention to what's going on...and don't vote!

While I understand the sentiment of making a shared sacrifice in the event of war, this is not a "war". It's a military operation to ensure western control of the Iraq oil fields.

[Joe Turner]

13. It's called having skin in the game

A draft with no deferments means everyone including our politicians will think long and hard about committing our troops to wars with no clear purpose or end game. It will lead to better decision making.

[BuelahWitch]

21. Agree

The only way the Endless Oil War will end.

[pnwmom]

27. They got rid of the college deferments during Vietnam and it didn't lead to any shortening

of the war. Tens of thousands more soldiers died after they did that.

The only reason it finally ended was because Nixon got tangled up in Watergate while protestors were in the streets.

[chrisa]

38. With their kids and the kids of the rest of the rich out of play, I sincerely doubt it.

I always find it funny when it's assumed that politicians even care about the regular population. We're just ants to them. If history has shown anything, it's that governments have no sympathy for their populace, and even getting them to care about minor issues is a major feat.

Any politician out there right now would draft and throw American kids into the meat grinder without blinking an eye. You think they would care if you object to it? Unless if your bank account has at least eight figures in it, they wouldn't even give you the decency of the world's smallest violin.

[hack89]

72. Are you willing to fund a massive increase in the size of military?

because you will need to equip a shit ton of men and women every year to make the draft fair.

[Warren Stupidity]

14. Fuck the draft.

And the only "war tax" we need is to a) eliminate the bush tax cuts for the 1% and b) stop fighting all of these fucking stupid wars.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. Bingo...

of course if there was a war tax it wouldn't be the rich paying- they would just increase the working classes tax rate.

[TheNutcracker]

52. But they ARE going to fight these wars....so better figure who's gonna pay for it!

The 1% should.

[99Forever]

15. Rangel is 100% correct.

The only way we'll ever wrestle control of this nation back from the blood covered hands of the warmongers and war profiteers, is to make it cost them personally. A sad, sad, ugly truth.

[chrisa]

39. How would a draft cost warmongers personally when their family would be immune to the draft?

Drafts are for the poor and middle class only. Always have been.

[99Forever]

43. It's fantasy anyway, so in my version...

... there are NO deferments, for any reason.

Oh, just in case you haven't noticed, taxes are "for the poor and middle class only."

[JEB]

16. We now have what amounts to an economic draft.

Enlist or hang around town trying avoid trouble and survive on a crappy minimum wage service job if you are lucky enough to get one. Make the fucking rich kids do some dirty work.

[CK_John]

17. A draft is needed to get a well rounded military and not a professional army.

I hear a lot of complaining about the local police and it's military culture that's the fault of our career military and an understaffed military.

An army forced into too many combat rotations, needs triple our current boots.

Also war doesn't happen in a vacuum, and if you don't see the signs of war in the actions taken by Putin in eastern EU and Canada it's time for a checkup.

[pampango]

19. Progressive taxes. - Yes. Forced to labor at killing people - No. n/t

[Wolf Frankula]

20. Let's Draft Congressmen First

Charlie gets to carry a rifle and fight in the front lines.

CONSCRIPTION IS SLAVERY!

If you say it isn't, then let's draft for ALL jobs.

Wolf

[BuelahWitch]

22. He already did, he's a Korean War Vet n/t

[BuelahWitch]

28. Especially the Kochs and the big oil families

Tax 'em till they squeal and cry for Mama!

[former9thward]

30. War tax yes, draft no.

[Louisiana1976]

31. About a draft, it may be a good idea if it causes politicians to think twice about involving the US

in wars. As for the war tax, it should not fall disproportionately on the poor.

[HeiressofBickworth]

32. NO DRAFT!!

I was opposed to the draft during the Vietnam War and remain opposed to involuntary servitude, regardless of how well wrapped in the flag it comes. While I sympathize with the dead and injured from Iraq/Afghanistan, at least they volunteered and made an actual decision to put their lives on the line for multi-national corporate interests.

Likewise, I'm opposed to a war tax. Not that the lack of funding for a war ever deterred TPTB from entering into war, as an individual, I don't want to pay even more in taxes to support the warmongering that seems continual.

[immoderate]

34. I think he's bluffing.

--imm

[Chan790]

47. No, this is a near-constant refrain from Rangel...

he's been after reinstatement of the draft since we got rid of the draft, which he opposed getting rid of.

[Shoulders of Giants]

35. "Greatest Generation" and Baby Boomers are the biggest supporters of war

Gen Xers and Especially millenials are very anti war and should not be drafted. Therefore, make the draft only for people born before 1964. Enjoy your war Charles Rangel.

[Art_from_Ark]

55. Boomers protested against the Vietnam War

And Gen Xers were the age group that most supported the 2003 Iraq War, while the "Greatest Generation" was least supportive.

http://www.people-press.org/2002/10/17/generations-divide-over-military-action-in-iraq/

[Shoulders of Giants]

100. If that poll is accurate, why do the older generations vote for the warmongers?

George Bush won with the senior vote. John McCain won the majority of the seniors. Sorry, I'm not buying this.

[Separation]

36. Not sure of anyone in the military for a draft.

If there are people on active duty for the reinstatement of the draft, they are definitely outliers. There are already enough knuckleheads in the service now that we have to deal with, dont want to have to deal with another 40-50,000 people who really dont want to be there.

During the 70's the military went through a massive reconstruction and one of those was getting rid of the draft and going to an all volunteer fighting force. I would be willing to bet a paycheck that we dont go back to the draft.

Now, with that being said, having a war tax is definitely needed. For one, people dont like taxes, its the no-no word that any politician tries to avoid like Ebola. Having to instate a war tax any time they want to use the military would probably keep their fingers off of the war trigger.

[Man from Pickens]

37. I have an alternative proposal

It's time for NO MORE STUPID WARS and if there is a draft, KIDS OF POLITICIANS WHO VOTED FOR THE WAR GO INTO COMBAT FIRST

[lunasun]

40. We were just discussing this at dinner-hadn't yet read Rangel's words. War has to have the attention

Of JQPublic by having a stake in it and payment due now.

Military class ...is a good term he used also.

[tritsofme]

41. Democrats supporting a return to the draft is a really good idea.

If you are looking to find perhaps the only way to drive millennials to the Republican Party...

[tblue]

42. Oh yeah....the DEBT.

Wasn't that the deal-killer for almost every other proposal?

[SamKnause]

44. Let the war profiteers pay the war taxes.

Those of us living below the poverty level can not afford another tax.

The citizens of the U.S. should not be fighting these corporate wars.

The draft is a deceitful way of sending the poor and jobless off to wars.

Let the 1% fight the wars they started for their financial gains.

I wish all the enlisted men and women would lay down their arms and refuse to fight.

[minivan2]

45. Agree about the war tax, hate the draft idea

At my age I would be scared shitless about the draft, and if I got my draft papers I would buy a ticket to Canada.

[reddread]

46. Hell NO! Sorry Charlie

its a bullshit notion floated to achieve nothing real.
but taking it seriously, we have to decide
HOW MANY WOMEN WOULD WE LIKE TO FORCE INTO A MORE DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENT?
whats the percentage of expected sexual assaults for them?

FORCE individuals to shoulder the psychic and physical destruction modern service causes?
FOR ILLEGAL INVASIONS AND OPERATIONS?

not just no.
not just HELL NO!

FUCK NO, YOU USELESS GASBAG.

got any real ideas?

[mb999]

50. How about taxing the billionaire elite more?

They have it all so they should pay. Raise it to 70%. that should cover the cost for the war. The working class has already been indebted, cut back, offshored and taxed to death.

[madville]

51. The military turns away volunteers

A draft makes no sense when they are turning away a deep pool of volunteers as it is.

[sgtbenobo]

89. Oh please....

....they are not volunteers. They are the young with few opportunities looking for a way to get their lives started. The All-Volunteer Army is a sham, just more of the racket and ultimately only serves the needs of the machine. Deep pool of volunteers my ass. It's more like a deep pool of the desperate.


Carry on.

[madville]

99. 80% currently get turned away

The military is very selective these days, pretty much must be a high school graduate and between obesity/medical conditions, prior drug use and criminal histories most applicants don't make the cut now.

At my last unit many of the new enlisted people showing up already had college degrees of some sort or were close enough to finish one up during their first enlistment.

The military has awesome benefits and good pay these days so they are attracting a much higher quality of applicant, the days of a high school dropout with a criminal record joining the military are long gone.

[yeoman6987]

102. You must be talking the military of 35 years ago

You could not be more wrong in your opinion.

[TheNutcracker]

53. I'll be with a draft the turnout for elections will be higher than 52% presidential, 17-30 midterms

[TheNutcracker]

54. PS...recipe for apathy

[Brother Buzz]

63. This dumb draftee is against the draft but the late Colonel Hackworth had an interesting perspective

"Even when they pissed me off, I had to admit there was something I liked about the draftees who didn't want to be there and made no bones about it. I like draftees in general, even with the attendant problems. Historically draftees have kept the military on the straight and narrow. By calling a spade a spade, they keep it clean. Without their "careers" to think about, they can't be easily bullied or intimidated as Regulars; their presence prevents the elitism that otherwise might allow a Regular army to become isolated from the values of the country it serves. Draftees are not concerned for the reputation of their employer, the Army (in Vietnam they happily blew the whistle an everything from phony valor awards to the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia); a draftee, citizens' army, so much a part of the history of America, is an essential part of a healthy democracy, one in which everyone pays the price Of admission." - Colonel Hackworth, About Face

[hack89]

70. We can't afford a fair draft

we would have to significantly increase the size of the military.

[Iamthetruth]

76. Will Rangel

Pay his share of these taxes?

[BlindTiresias]

85. Lol, no

it won't do anything to stop wars and may very well encourage them by adding a steady feed of bodies, none of which will be part of the upper 5% of the population due to creative interpretations of the law and context in draft boards.

I propose a different policy: We put the entry of the war to a popular vote and anyone who votes for it is now liable to be drafted. Anyone insane/stupid enough to repeatedly put their head on a chopping block will likely be killed as the survivability rate approaches zero, we will see plenty of reformed warmongers, and the anti-foreign adventure faction will grow.

[Erose999]

86. Can we pass the "war tax" on the oil men and the MIC since this is their war? I ain't paying for

this shit. Fuckin' fuck.

[dilby]

90. So you are going to Tax me to help make wealthy people richer.

How about making it so people can't profit in war, everything companies provide to the Government should be at cost, they can take pride in knowing it's their Patriotic duty.

[cherokeeprogressive]

92. Hey Charlie! Give us a list of your eligible family members. Then we can talk. n/t.

[uppityperson]

94. Not just no but hell no. If anyone thinks they can get congress to pass a fair and equitable draft,

then they should also believe congress would not use the military for anything but absolute necessity.

[Egnever]

95. I have a better idea

Lets raise the pay of our military across the board and increase their benefits, then lets posts the actual costs of these wars instead of hiding them.

[Hotler]

98. Yes, yes, yes, yes, 1000 times yes. n/t