McCain: Draft would be unfair to poor families

[unhappycamper]

McCain: Draft would be unfair to poor families
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 10:55:58 EDT

A military draft will never work until there is a way to ensure that the children of wealthy families serve, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Vietnam veteran and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

“Before I would even have remote consideration for it, someone has to tell me how rich people are forced to serve along with poor people. Rich people can always find a doctor who can say they have a bad knee,” McCain said Monday in a meeting with Military Times editors and reporters.

“You can call it a lottery or call it a banana; rich people get out of the draft,” he said. “I am not ready to go back to a totally unfair system where we ask the poorest people in this country to serve.”

McCain acknowledged that maintaining the all-volunteer force that has existed since 1972 is becoming more costly and that costs have yet to peak because it could take further significant bonuses and other incentives to convince current service members to stay in and youths to join up in a wartime environment.

“We are going to have to up the ante,” McCain said. “The all-volunteer force costs money. It is a marketplace out there.”

McCain acknowledged that some people serve for patriotic reasons while others look at different incentives, but he said he is convinced that the services can continue to recruit and retain enough high-quality people, even with an increase in Army and Marine Corps active-duty personnel that is a key element of McCain’s national security agenda if he is elected president.


Article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/military_mccaindraft_071016w/

[ikojo]

1. And the economic draft IS fair to poor

and lower middle class families? I don't see many people of Chelsea Clinton's and Jenna and Barbara Bush's class enlisting in the military.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. We'd much rather

that they go uninsured and get sick and die on America's streets.

This is like saying "Boy, that blue sky is really blue." Sure the rich are going to find their way out of public service. They represent less than 7% of those registered, anyway. The draft has always been about ordering forgotten and destitute youth to work. McCain needs to stop trying to sell dogshit as daisies.

[rurallib]

3. Wow - there is an issue where Republicans care about poor people

My stereotypes are shattered.