Heard this on NPR?

Question

ok, so i got cut from work early because my office was taken over by the 30 people there for a meeting from another department.. and on the way home i was listening to NPR as i normally do... I'll openly admit that i'm a Democrat but i consider NPR to be fairly neutral, maybe a little to the left but not bad. that being said there was a Democrat and a Republican debating on there.. and the Republican was calling for the Draft so that we could flood the middle east, where needed, with troops. My instant thought was that this guy was a radical and not a true representative of the Republican party.. but i wanted to ask on here seeing as how if you know how to look threw the morons from both parties that post on here, there are some smart people. So what do you guys think about the draft? is this a lone wolf republican? is there a lot of support for such a thing? as an american (put republican/democrat down for a sec) how do you guys fee about this?

Answer 1

If there were a draft the Iraq campaign would have ended long ago, and may never have been started. This is no different than the Vietnam era. As long as it was mostly the poor and minorities that were dying no one cared. However, as soon as affluent white guys started dying in numbers, their parents (mostly WWII vets, in fact) started b*tching to their Congressmen, and that is when our representatives finally took notice.

It is hardly certain that we have enough troops. We will know more when our soldiers finally come home and we can assess exactly how much physical and psychological cost they have paid. It does not take an expert in these matters to know that the constant and unrelenting uncertainty and stress of guerrilla warfare is harmful to both body and soul.

Imagine that every day when you left your house to go to work or whatever, you never had one second that you were not constantly on guard for your life. And, even when you were home, you knew that people were thinking of ways to kill you there also. It is difficult to live like that for very long without it affecting and changing you as a person.

You will not find many rich and powerful people who are going to let their children go through that. G.H.W. Bush is A WWII vet and career government servant and yet he pulled strings to protect his own son from facing the very same thing in Vietnam.

I think it is very easy to be a patriot from 10,000 miles away. I wonder how many would suddenly lose their patriotism if the they were faced with the possibility of serving themselves. Or, as we used to say – “so you can talk-the-talk, now lets see if you can walk-the-walk”.

Answer 2

The only member of Congress to propose a draft bill that got voted on was Charlie Rangel, and he voted against it.

Nobody with an ounce of intelligence wants the draft, but that's not to say there aren't some idiots out there in both parties.

Here's why the draft is a bad idea.

1. It's totally at odds with the concept of Freedom. It's involuntary servitude.

2. It isn't necessary. Despite what Democrats say, America poured it's heart out with help for New Orleans. We'd do the same if Oregon was ever invaded by Canada. If our security is ever truly threatened, the problem won't be mustering troops, it'll be keeping the "volunteers" out of the way.

3. It doesn't work. I personally have experience in the draft army and the all volunteer army. Volunteers are motivated, and can be taught the skills they need to survive and win. Draftees can barely be gotten out of bed in the morning, and the chain of command spends more time on discipline than training. Ten well trained soldiers that choose to do what they do can outfight 200 that don't really want to be there.

It's possible a republican said this. Not likely, but possible. If he did, he's a fool.

Answer 3

"is there a lot of support for such a thing?"

No, and that's why you hear so little about it from either side of the aisle.

The fact is that we require a MUCH larger army than we currently have but nobody will own up to it. Whether the draft is the way to go or not will depend upon the kind of conflicts we enter into. If they're voluntary conflicts, like Iraq, the draft won't fly; if we or any of our close allies are attacked by a significant foe, then the American people will support a draft. This is, more or less, the way it's always been.

Answer 4

While there are some attrictive aspects of the draft, such as equal representation of all social classes in the military... the drawbacks far outweigh the benifits. I for one would never pick up a weapon in anger unless my country was in real danger of being taken over by an agressor (and the US hasn't been in that situation since WWII)... also, a volunteer army is going to be made up of more motivated and better trained soldiers than one made up of people forced into military duty (think about the difference between a college and high school)....

As for what this Republican guy said -- "flood the middle east with troops"??? Thats just an absurd idea, and I would put him on the lunatic fringe of the Republican party.

Answer 5

The Repuke Party IS ultra far radical right. There are just limits that the Dumbya Coup doesn't understand. The cost of the Big Lie Iraqi Crusade is ALREADY sinking the USA financially. With a draft there would for a while be more troops, but at what cost then? Maybe to be a College Republican one should agree to serve in the Dumbya war??? Naaa... they "got better things to do", right? The prospective conscripts aren't stupid. There would be justified protest like history has not yet known.

Answer 6

I listen to NPR also as I feel it tells the truth without spin.

Haven't heard the show you mentioned but I'd be surprised to see many politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, support a draft as it would be enormously unpopular, possibly to the point of being political suicide.

That's not to say that NO politician would advocate a draft. I remember a few years ago, a Democrat (I forget who), advocated a draft of ALL kids of a certain age with NO exemptions whatever, in an attempt to get some of the children of the ruling classes into military service.

Needless to say, it went nowhere. Nobody in Congress or with political power wants THEIR kid to serve in the military and possibly get killed. That's only for the poor and working classes.

Answer 7

Well this is a tough issue.
Just for the war in Iraq I definitely say no to the draft. but the problem is that the rest of the world is about to explode all over the place, can we protect ourselves with the men and women that we currently have in the military? But is the draft the answer at this point. Probably not. A better option would be to attempt to end Iraq that is favorable to all but in a timely fashion. Now, if the rest of the world does explode unfortunately we may be in a position that it is necessary.

I don't say this lightly either my daughter has already served and I have 2 sons that are of age. Do I want to see them or any American at war, no. but if your on the receiving end you have no choice. it may be a necessary evil of the times. or at least until people learn that war is never the answer.

Answer 8

I can see arguments for both sides of this issue.

1st-I feel it's probably a good bet that there are many poor, under-educated people that join the military because they don't feel they have any other career choices.
So if there was an honest way to make sure the draft was absolutely fair in acquiring people of all classes, I wouldn't have too big a problem in the draft coming back.
Of course that's easy for a 45-year old asthmatic to say.

2nd-However, I still think it's preferable to have a military comprised of people that made their own decision, (even if that decision was the result of very few other choices), to join, rather than a military made up primarily of people who are forced to join because of a draft. I think you end up with better soldiers.

Answer 9

No. there will be no draft reinstatement. We can't control all the views of all the candidates. Nevermind the fact that I don't think we'll need a draft anyway. If any more of these rogue countries like N.Korea continue to threaten us, I think we all should be paying attention to what will happen after the election. My thinking is that we are going to make a BIG example out of one of them. For all the rest to see. And contemplate whether they want to walk down that street as well.

Answer 10

I think a Draft is about the worst idea I've heard for solving the problems we face in the Middle East. More troops will not help - that will only make more people think that we are trying to make colonies out of oil producing nations.