Charlie Wrangel's Draft Proposal

While I agree with the general thrust of Wrangel's proposal to re institute the draft, there are several factors that make it impractical and one has to assume Wrangel's idea is put forth with a bit of "tongue in cheek" - i.e. if the War on Terror is important enough to win that we adopt pre-emptive wars; must be prepared to fight it for generations; and give up civil liberties in its conduct, the very least we could do is reinstate the draft.

As for what is wrong with it: 1) It's politically impractical. 2) The military doesn't want it - the art of war has become so high tech, it's doubtful a short period of enlistment for draftees would allow for the training required today. And, 3) The composition of today's military, unlike Vietnam (with the occasional McCain/Kerry exception), is according to studies more representative of the country as a whole than Wrangel suggests.

On the other hand, there are a couple of pro-draft points Wrangel has missed. As wealth becomes increasingly concentrated in our society, the "economic elite" actually shrinks in size, so it takes far fewer of their sons and daughters in military service to hold their "representation ratio."

Perhaps, however, more important is an argument that democracies should only go to war defensively and on rare occasions. But when they do, they should mobilize as much of their population as possible to ensure quick victories, and return to peacetime as fast as possible. Sort of the political side of the Powell Doctrine. War is or should be, the "abnormal state of being," and the best way to ensure that it is over quickly, with minimal casualties, is to utilize overwhelming force.

And, if I remember Roman history correctly, there are historians that trace the failure of the Roman Republic to Roman professional armies and the fall of the later Empire to taking that a step further by handing over the defense of the Empire to an "outsourcing policy" that relied heavily on allied barbarian tribes.

So, the thought that the defense of our country, whose national security is threatened - as opposed to threats that may be handled through police powers - should be a shared burden, spread among all segments of our society, doesn't strike me as all that bad.