Poll on the draft (including options for men, women, all)

[CreekDog]

If the draft is ever reinstated, your opinion is:

13 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Oppose it, but men and women should be eligible to be drafted
	8 (62%)
	Oppose it, but only men should be eligible to be drafted
	1 (8%)
	Oppose it, but only women should be drafted
	0 (0%)
	Support it, and both men and women should be eligible to be drafted
	3 (23%)
	Support it, and only men should be eligible to be drafted
	1 (8%)
	Support it, and only women should be eligible to be drafted
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[marym625]

1. I like the idea of a national service

2 years for everyone. But the service should be doing something helpful to US citizens. Free college education should come with it. .

[GP6971]

3. And not necessarily military

could be Peace Corps or some other non-military, federal program.

[marym625]

4. Yes

That's what I meant. I guess I didn't say it well

[GP6971]

5. No you did

just wanted to amplify it......too many people automatically equate national service to the military. There are many other options of serving.

[Sherman A1]

21. Agreed

I think it would be splendid.

[Trillo]

24. Education is national service.

12 school years of it is compulsory labor without payment or compensation. For many, it's just punishment after punishment after punishment. For a few, it works okay.

No need for any more "national service."

[GP6971]

2. Although the draft has been gone since 74/75

The selective service is still around, although not sure how effective it is. Key question is do young women have to register like young men have to? I don't think so, although I haven't followed it and could be wrong.

[KellyW]

7. Yes men must still register for the draft- women do not.

We waste about 20 million dollars a year on the Selective Service System. There are still local draft boards. You could volunteer for one if you were interested. Under no foreseeable circumstances could the information collected as part of the draft registration be useful for an actual call-up.

If you are or know an 18 year old male, remind them to register for the draft. Failure to do so can have consequences latter in life.
As for universal service, absolutely not. Service for college is OK, but how is it fair to make young people give up years of their lives in mandatory service if we did not?

[GP6971]

9. I think it's personal preference

Me...... right or wrong, I felt obligated to serve the country. It was kind of a tradition that died with my much younger cousins.

I did my time in the military and got out, never looking back with the exception that I felt I contributed.

[Art_from_Ark]

27. The announcement of the end of the draft was made on January 27, 1973

and was finalized on July 1, 1973. Then in 1979 or 80, President Carter announced that all male college students born on or after January 1, 1960, had to register with Selective Service in order to qualify for Federal financial aid (Pell Grants, NDSL, etc.)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. I don't want the draft reinstated

Unless there is such an immediate and urgent need for one- and if and when such a situation ever arises (heaven forbid it does again), hopefully we wouldn't even need one.

[CreekDog]

22. I agree, but the question was asking if there was one

should it only include men or should it be gender neutral?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

23. To answer:

Gender neutral. If a draft is necessary, we should not spare any potential resources.

[Man from Pickens]

8. three cheers for slavery

let's not mince words, that's what we're talking about

[CreekDog]

12. you're minimizing the reality of slavery

a draft is not the same as slavery.

[Art_from_Ark]

28. A draft is not slavery per se

but it certainly qualifies as "involuntary servitude".

[BainsBane]

14. Asking the comfortable to contribute anything

Is slavery, but counting on the poor and disadvantaged to do the dirty work is perfectly fine. That is their place after all.

There isn't going to be a draft because the government and MIC agree that the self-entitled shouldn't have to contribute. They military wants the freedom to wage war, and as long as military service falls only to poor and disadvantaged, people who don't count, they can do anything they want. Vietnam showed the hazards of a draft, and empire depends on a placated public. Plus a draft would cut into or even eliminate the profits of the private contracting firms, and God forbidden so-called leftists would want that to happen, not if it requires their having to contribute anything.

I suggest you use some of your free time to read up about slavery because for you to compare the specter of the upper-middle and middle class doing national service to the status of being owned by another human being is preposterous.

For the record, I am for national service, not just military service. The kind of self-entitled attitudes displayed through these discussions are precisely why I favor it. Americans would do well to think of something besides themselves. Because when middle-class white men sit around and compared themselves to people born into slavery--who had their children, husbands and wives sold away from them at will, who spent their entire lives knowing they would never be anything but someone's property--something is very seriously wrong.

Countries that do not count on poverty to fill the ranks of the military have a qualification for national service. Everyone contributes a year at age 18 or 19. They do so because they believe all citizens benefit from the nation and thus should share in responsibility and sacrifice. Here people like the poor and people of color do the heavy lifting, and people like it that way.

[Nobel_Twaddle_III]

10. and a draft requires a war tax.

[MADem]

11. I think everyone regardless of gender should be eligible to be drafted, should a draft be called.

I don't "support" or "oppose" drafting people, either--I think that the draft is a tool, and I hope we as a nation don't have a need to avail ourselves of that tool. If we do find ourselves in need, well, fire up the lottery and cross your fingers, kids...

[Renew Deal]

13. I don't think anyone can say if they support or oppose it without knowing the reason

Unless people believe in permanent mandatory conscription.

[BainsBane]

15. I support national service for all

not just military service. Everyone at age 18 or 19 contributes a year to some sort of public service, working in poor neighborhoods, national parks, pubic works, etc.... From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

[HeiressofBickworth]

16. You neglected one choice in your poll

NO REGISTRATION, NO DRAFT, NO ONE.

[CreekDog]

17. I didn't say anything about registration

[HeiressofBickworth]

19. I see that

I was merely defining the parameters of my objections to the draft, everything from registration, draft, gender, age, etc.

[Jamastiene]

18. I oppose it and no one should be eligible to be drafted. n/t

[CreekDog]

20. i agree

[bigwillq]

25. Oppose

but if the draft is ever reinstated, both men and women should be eligible.

[abelenkpe]

26. Oppose

No. Never. Gotta stop pretending a draft would ever include the wealthy and connected. It wouldn't. Even if they did go into service they'd be given cushy safe jobs while working class kids would be put in danger.

[Art_from_Ark]

29. You forgot one option:

"Oppose the draft, without qualifications."

I cannot support imposing on other people, that which I would not want imposed upon myself.