New Yorkers should know that no one in the Administration, at the Department of Defense, or at the Selective Service System is advocating the reinstatement of the mandatory draft in any form.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A draft doesn't produce the people we need to satisfy our real manpower shortage. We need specialists to keep our jets flying.
Since January 2003, at the height of the debate on the possible unilateral strike against Iraq, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the military draft to ensure a more equitable representation of people making sacrifices in wars in which the United States is engaged.
With all the fighting we do and all the skirmishing we do, the reality is that New Yorkers can come together when they have to.
New Yorkers must be able to trust the men and women of the NYPD. They must come forward to report crimes. And they must come forward as witnesses.
I'm against the draft. I believe we should have a professional military; it might be smaller, but it would be more effective.
That makes no sense for someone to say if they were drafted by their country, that they'd say no.
I think that, in comparison, New Yorkers and Northerners are so guarded.
To summarize, draft resistance can make use of the inegalitarian nature of American society as a technique for increasing the cost of American aggression, and it threatens values that are important to those in a decision-making position.
One of the problems we currently have is there hasn't been in the population any serious engagement with the ethics of war because we have an all-volunteer army. I would think the return to the draft would be an intervention that would require discussion that might be more helpful in terms of our ability to limit war.
Maybe the answer to Selective Service is to start everyone off in the army and draft them for civilian life as needed.