Posts in "Draft"

By James Maier at 6:34AM

Feb 24, 2011

In Opposition to Selective Service

The talk radio station I listen to daily sometimes runs a PSA about Selective Service. It starts out by saying all the things that a man is able to do when he turns 18, finally turning its attention to Selective Service. If you do not file with the Selective Service System, the PSA warns, you will not be able to vote or hold a government job (as well as, but not included in the ad: Risking your citizenship and not being able to obtain student aid or Pell Grants). All these threats are listed for those unwilling to along with the government's plan for your life.

I am adamantly opposed to Selective Service. It is conscription registration -- in simple terms, a draft registration. According to the Selective Service System website, the names and addresses of over 15 million men were on file at the end of 2008. Since 2008, my name was added to that list when I went to get my driver's license this past summer -- begrudgingly. I told the women at the BMV that Selective Service was wrong and basically amounted to a dormant draft, and she agreed with me.

Should Christians volunteer for military service?

Q. Should Christians volunteer for military service? — CJ Scrofani, from Warrenton, VA.

A. That depends. Right now? No. Other times? Maybe.

The American military in its present capacity simply is not being used in just or moral manner — not to mention how far it has strayed from its constitutional purpose. Because of this, I’d argue that a Christian cannot in good conscience join the military at this time. I would also go so far as to argue that if a draft were to be reinstated now, conscientious objector status would be the minimum a Christian should do to avoid combat, and complete resistance a far better option.

On the other hand, if our military completely changed to a moral, constitutional, and strictly defensive force…well, at that point a Christian might join. Whether the individual Christian should do so would be between him and his Lord, but — assuming those conditions were truly met — joining would not be out of the question. I don’t think Christianity necessarily calls us to pacifism (though perhaps it may require that of some), and it is surely right to defend the innocent when actually attacked.

For further reading on this subject, I’d recommend you to Laurence Vance’s “Letter to a Christian Young Man Regarding Joining the Military,” a short article with which you may already be familiar. I’m not always in 100% agreement with Vance, but in this case I am, and he makes my complete argument much better than I could.

Originally posted on my own blog here.

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By Creighton Harrington at 11:44AM

Jul 27, 2010

H.R. 5741: Universal National Service Act

From the heading of the bill:

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.

Wasn't slavery prohibited in the 13th amendment?

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By Bonnie Kristian at 3:47AM

Feb 18, 2009

Flawed Foreign Policy

In a brief article on AntiWar.com today, Ron Paul argues that a draft or mandatory service requirement is not inconceivable in the United States today, but ought to be out of the question in a free society. Moreover, he continues, any apparent "need" for a draft is all too often created by none other than flawed foreign policy:

I am convinced that there are more threats to American liberty within the 10-mile radius of my office on Capitol Hill than there are on the rest of the globe.

The potential for real change is there...

...it just needs to be organized. I am the Editor of my college paper, and one of the features I have added this year is a political debate column which runs in every weekly issue. How it works is I propose a topic each week to the three columnists, one of whom is a Republican, one a Democrat, and one a Ron Paul supporting Constitutionalist. They then write about 350 words each, and we publish the three opinions side by side. This week the topic was the draft/universal civilian service, and the responses I got were probably the most interesting set to date, especially given that typicall
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