Here is the response paper that I wrote for my First-Year Seminar on the subject. I would be delighted to hear everyone's opinions on the subject, or input on the paper (though I'll have turned it in before you read it). Let me know what you think!

Response Paper #1- War and the Draft

Above all things, the last thing that our country needs at this time is to institute a draft.  There are countless reasons for this argument, first and foremost of which is that we are not legally at “war” by Constitutional definition. Secondly, a large part of today’s youth either does not support, or has no interest in what President Bush so ingeniously has named the “War on Terror.” Third, today there are a larger number of women in the armed forces, and that raises the question of how to fairly execute a draft based on the issue of gender. Finally, putting these things aside, I do not believe that any person should be forced into fighting a war, whether they support it or not, because the government should not have control of its citizens’ lives.

In a press briefing by Ari Fleischer, President Bush’s press secretary, on September 12^th, 2001, it was stated that the President would “continue to work with the Congress on appropriate language at the appropriate time,”¹ when asked about pursuing a declaration of war. However, as the “war” has never been against a certain nation or government, there has been no formal declaration of war from Congress. I’m unsure of the provisions by which Bush justifies his actions, but the point is that, in fact, the “War on Terror” is not actually a war. Though this fact may not legally prevent a draft (and I’m sure a back-door could be found if it did, through pure terminology alone), it does morally prevent one. People should not be forced into hostile situations if our government is not prepared to declare exactly what they are fighting for. And so, I believe that, all other issues aside, the Bush administration should not institute a draft unless they can have the support of the other branches of our Democratic government, in deciding to make their bastard child into a legitimate war.

The Americans who would be most directly affected by a draft are those in my generation, myself included. In 2004, Selective Service Director Jack Martin stated that “this time  there would be no long deferments for college students and a lot more people could be eligible for the draft than before: men and women ages 18 to 26 could be called up.”² This statement brings up a few arguable issues. Firstly, “no long deferments for college students” basically puts our futures at risk. The government could, at will, interrupt our (very expensive) educations, critically damaging both our finances and our educational aspirations. We are at a turning point in our lives, and to have that disrupted for a cause which me maw not support or even care about, is just wrong. We choose to continue our education, and no one, not even our all-mighty American government, should be able to take that choice away from us. Also, for those not in college, there would be no chance of deferment at all. Therefore, these people’s lives, which may be at equally critical points in their family or vocational development, may be drastically altered, if not ruined, as well. The government has no right to throw its citizens’ into such turmoil.

Also, Martin’s statement brings up the issue of gender. Although, in 1995 there were “approximately 32,000 women in the U.S. military, comprising about 13 percent of the total U.S. Armed Forces,”³ women are not presently eligible to register for the draft, whether they want to or not. “Selective Service law as it's written now refers specifically to ‘male persons’ in stating who must register and who would be drafted. For women to be required to register with Selective Service, Congress would have to amend the law.”⁴ This question has been reviewed multiple times, with the Supreme Court decision, Rostker v. Goldberg (1981), and in a Department of Defense review under President Clinton in 1994.⁴ Each time the exclusion of women has been deemed Constitutional. Along with my opinion that no one should have to be involved in a draft, I especially agree that women should always be excluded. Though there are a growing number of women who want to serve in the military, the majority would never even consider it. It is my belief that most women would not be able to handle the emotional stresses, for example, those exhibited in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. The horrors experienced by Baumer and his comrades are beyond the grasp of most of today’s women, who are brought up to be beautiful and motherly, not to fight wars. Those women who are willing and able to fight the war should volunteer, draft or not.

It is not to be said, however, that some of the qualities of women, mentioned above, do not also apply to some men in our society. Not all men are the epitome of manliness and competitiveness and, just like women, not all men are capable of handling the stresses involved in fighting a war. This ability cannot be determined by any generalizations of gender, race, age, or any other criteria, but only by the person themselves. Due to this fact, (and it is a fact), the government should have no right to force people into a dangerous situation which, if it doesn’t kill them, could destroy them mentally and emotionally, scarring them for the rest of their lives. This has already been proven by the results of the draft in the 60’s. I have heard countless tales of family members who were drafted and are unable to cope with the horrors that they experienced fighting in Korea and Vietnam.

The similarities between the situations in Korea and Vietnam are similar to the one that our country is in now, mainly in that was, and is, no formal declaration of war. Along the same lines, I believe that if a draft was introduced during our present conflict, the government would be met with the same vehement opposition from the youth affected by it. Finally, I strongly believe that if President Bush and his administration are not receiving enough voluntary support from the people that they are supposed to be representing, then perhaps they should rethink their reasons for going to “war” in the first place.

Sources

1. Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer, Sept. 12, 2001: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010912-8.html

2. “The Issues: Reviving The Draft” by CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger, Sept. 28, 2004: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/28/eveningnews/main646055.shtml

3. “Women in the Military: Combat Roles Considered” by Jake Willens, August 7, 1996: Center For Defense Information Website: http://www.cdi.org/issues/women/combat.html

4. “Women and the Draft”- Selective Service System Fast Facts, Updated April 30, 2002: http://www.sss.gov/FSwomen.htm