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Military Draft: Pluses and Minuses
Mark H. Tompkins
January 17, 2007
Representative Charles Rangel’s (D-NY) recent call to reinstate the military draft smacked of hyperbole and grand-standing, but at least he is a veteran (U.S. Army 1948-52). The hyperbole of a liberal notwithstanding, cases can be made both for and against a new draft.
On the plus side it would ultimately, as a slice of the general public, lead to more veterans in Congress. Today’s new 110th Congress has the fewest veterans since, perhaps, before World War II only 133. As recently as 1991 there were over twice as many veterans in Congress. In 1977 there were 412!
Being a veteran, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean that Congress members really support the military or appreciate it. You have no further to look for confirmation of that than Senators Chris Dodd (NJ), Tom Harkin (IA), Ted Kennedy (MA), John Kerrey (MA), Frank Lautenburg (NJ), Bill Nelson (FL), and Jack Reed (RI) Democrats all or Representatives Leonard Boswell (IA), John Dingell (MI), John Murtha (PA), and Charles Rangel (NY) again, Democrats all.
Still one cant help but think that in 1977 the 412 veterans in Congress had a better feel for and appreciation of things military than the 427 Congress members today who have never served in uniform. Moreover, having more families with service members might derail some of the cut-and-run mentality so prevalent these days. Too many folks today have no contact with the military and no feel for our soldiers or their problems.
Another plus would be that the families of the ilk of Jane Fonda and John Kerrey would not be immune to the draft.
That, of course, is also part of the other side of the coin. Why saddle the military with the modern-day likes of Ted Kennedy? Now there’s an interesting aside just what did the old Chappaquiddick Cruiser do in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953? He obviously didn’t serve with the distinction of his two older brothers.
Hmm. Maybe, just maybe, Charlie Rangel is onto something and doesn’t even know it.
Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain
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