1940 to recruit troops into the Armed Forces in time of need. Men were required to register with the service when they turned 18. Those who did not register would either be fined up to
$250,000, be put in prison, or both. After the Selective Service Act ended in 1973, there has been much controversy about whether Congress should bring back the draft or keep the allvolunteer army United States uses today. Military conscription should not be enforced because it is unjust, it has a negative impact on economics, and the United States needs trained soldiers, not an army of unwilling draftees.
The draft is a very unjust act in many ways. It takes away men’s human rights and forces them to go into the military. RAND Corporation implies that “Conservatives and libertarians argued that the state had no right to impose military service on young men without their consent”(RAND). This is actually a form of slavery because Congress is making someone do something without their consent, so it violates the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment also states that involuntary servitude is unjust; this is violated as well.
The draft is discriminatory because of how it separates the poor and rich from each other.
Becker addresses that “The proportions of minorities and people from poorer backgrounds in the armed forces are larger than in the population at large…” (Becker).
It is not benevolent to have mostly poor people in the army. There have been many stories about the wealthy being able to avoid the draft because they came from wealthy families that could afford college and doctors.
Families who could not afford those privileges had no choice but to send their loved ones away.
It is not benevolent to have mostly poor people in the army. The wealthy should not be allowed to extract out of the draft in any kind of way. It is only fair if both get drafted.
Many people who were drafted into the army were disabled. Some of them were disabled for life and others were disabled from an injury of some sort, but that did not stop the government from drafting them into the war. The Selective Service Act states that “Disabled men who live at home must register if they are reasonably able to leave the home…” (Selective
Service). If they are disabled they should be exempt from the draft. They are most likely going to be the first to die, so the government should not put them in the army if they can not really protect our country.
Also, if they need someone to help them fill out a form, they would not be able to fight in a war.
Back then there were probably a large amount of women who wanted to join the army because they wanted to fight for the United States, but they could not do that because Congress would not allow the Act that authorized them. Goldenberg acknowledges that “Congress allocated only those funds necessary to register males and declined to amend the Act to permit the registration of women” (ROSTKER VS. GOLDBERG). This is unfair because it did not allow women into the armed forces at all. It actually would have been a benefit to allow women because it would have added more troops to the army, which means more protection for the
United States. The allvolunteer force is better because it allows the option for women to join if they want to.
Military conscription has a major negative impact on the economy. The draft costs more for the government than an allvolunteer force, and it could be a wasteful investment. Rangel admits that “If we require every ablebodied male to serve 18 months to two years after he turns,
then we are talking about inducting more than 1.5 million draftees a year…” (Rangel and Lacey).
If the United States keeps the draft going it is going to eventually become very expensive for the