A lot of people are hyperventilating about Rep. Rangel's threats to re-instate the draft.
First of all, it is never going to happen. The Democrats are stupid, but they aren't that stupid.
Rangel's reason is supposedly so that the upper class elites (read: whitey) will have to share the "burden". Most people in the armed forces do not consider their service a burden, they consider it an honor. It has also been proven by independent studies that the armed forces are more white, and more educated than the general population. The canard that the military is full of the poor, minority and uneducated is extremely outdated.
Second, the MSM (not surprisingly) and most bloggers (which surprises me) are all talking like 18 year old boys are going to have to start registering. They are already supposed to be registering. The "draft" or more accurately the Selective Service already exists. Registration was re-instated in 1980 by Pres. Carter. (surprise surprise...another Democrat) However, only males are required (or even allowed) to register. I can't wait to see Rep. Pelosi or Sen. Clinton start talking about drafting young women.
What would change is that they would start holding lotteries again, and bring back conscription. The military would absolutely hate this.
Now I would go Rep. Rangel one step further, and institute compulsory service. Drafties would have the option of serving in the military, the Peace Corp or a domestic version of the Peace Corp. I think youth should serve society in some way, and it would teach our youth something about discipline, self discipline and responsibility; lessons that most of them sorely need to learn.
2 comments:
You state that the military is more "white and more educated" than the general population.
Is that true of those in Iraq?
I do not know the answer so whatever it is will be interesting...but I'm guessing it will be less white and less educated. (The less educated would be no suprise. Do you really need all of your Rocket Scientists in Iraq?)
P.S. who came up with Rocket Science being the end all of knowledge? What's so hard about it? 1.Tube 2.Propellant 3.Stand
Done.
Here's the study:
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112905a.cfm?RenderforPrint=1
What does it say?
If, for example, we consider the education of every recruit, 98% joined with high-school diplomas or better. By comparison, 75% of the general population meets that standard. Among all three-digit ZIP code areas in the USA in 2003 (one can study larger areas by isolating just the first three digits of ZIP codes), not one had a higher graduation rate among civilians than among its recruits.
I should note that the military is slightly less white than the general population (about 2% less)
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