I’m a little confused. I need your help here. Did I imagine it? Isn’t it true that for years I heard the left accuse us of wanting to restart the draft?
House Democrat Wants Draft Reinstated
Nov 20, 12:48 AM (ET)
By JOHN HEILPRIN
WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 under a bill the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says he will introduce next year.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars.
“There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” Rangel said.
Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, has said the all-volunteer military disproportionately puts the burden of war on minorities and lower-income families.
Rangel said he will propose a measure early next year. While he said he is serious about the proposal, there is little evident support among the public or lawmakers for it.
In 2003, Rangel proposed a measure covering people age 18 to 26. It was defeated 402-2 the following year. This year, he offered a plan to mandate military service for men and women between age 18 and 42; it went nowhere in the Republican-led Congress.
Democrats will control the House and Senate come January because of their victories in the Nov. 7 election.
At a time when some lawmakers are urging the military to send more troops to Iraq, “I don’t see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft,” said Rangel, who also proposed a draft in January 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “I think to do so is hypocritical.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Standby Reserve, said he agreed that the U.S. does not have enough people in the military.
“I think we can do this with an all-voluntary service, all-voluntary Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. And if we can’t, then we’ll look for some other option,” said Graham, who is assigned as a reserve judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.
Rangel, the next chairman of the House tax-writing committee, said he worried the military was being strained by its overseas commitments.
“If we’re going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can’t do that without a draft,” Rangel said.
He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, “young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it’s our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals,” with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.
Graham said he believes the all-voluntary military “represents the country pretty well in terms of ethnic makeup, economic background.”
Repeated polls have shown that about seven in 10 Americans oppose reinstatement of the draft and officials say they do not expect to restart conscription.
Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress in June 2005 that “there isn’t a chance in the world that the draft will be brought back.”
Yet the prospect of the long global fight against terrorism and the continuing U.S. commitment to stabilizing Iraq have kept the idea in the public’s mind.
The military drafted conscripts during the Civil War, both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. An agency independent of the Defense Department, the Selective Service System, keeps an updated registry of men age 18-25 – now about 16 million – from which to supply untrained draftees that would supplement the professional all-volunteer armed forces.
Rangel and Graham appeared on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
The Dems have always been predictably stupid. But this is just too tasty. Let’s see how the moonbats react to Chawlie and his call for the draft. Michelle Malkin nails it when she writes that this gesture is “a fitting symbol of what Democrat rule in Congress will be the next two years: A worthless, cynical expenditure of time and energy that accomplishes absolutely nothing.”
No George, you didn’t imagine it. It was part of the Dems political campaign in 2004, saying that if President Bush won he would put a draft, which was completely ridiculous and false but for political purposes they thought it would sink well with the young people.
Too bad for the Dems that in 2004 the people were more informed. Now, the Dems show their true nature.
I guess Rangel is beginning a propagandistic campaign to make people believe that the War on Terror is associated with a draft. They tried that before, and now they want to try it again. They are just getting ready for 2008. This is stupid but it is part of Dems propaganda. Let us not forget that Rangel knows too well how propaganda can work in the public’s minds, after all Rangel has enjoyed sponsored trips by the master of BS propaganda himself: fidel castro.
Let’s make a note of this so that when 2008 comes around, the hypocrites can be exposed by their own words and actions.
Rangel is a socialist democrat, the only reason he brings up the draft is to stir the pot. He wants to remind people the democrats talking point that the president started a war for no reason and caused the death of our troops.
“”There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” Rangel said.”
The flaw in his rhetoric is that there are congressmen who have relatives in the armed services and the thought that the ” all-volunteer military disproportionately puts the burden of war on minorities and lower-income families.” is very much Kerryesk statement. The people who he represents (Harlem) are to stupid to do anything else. Now who’s fault is that? He may be right though he keeps getting re elected Maybe they are stupid.
If you read carefully what Charlie had to say, this is not just a military draft he’s talking about. He says some of the draftees will go into non-military government service. In other words, this is the long-sought Democratic plan for universal government service.
Under another name, it’s slavery. It’s the typical socialist idea that a person does not own his or her own life – that the life belongs to the government.
These blustering, contradictory politicians just crack me up. A few days ago, San Fran school board cut the JROTC program that was doing great at teaching kids the civics lessons that these socialist types always clamor about. Now this dunderhead wants to create a national version of what that equally dunderheaded school board just destroyed! They’re proving over and over again what the modern gov’t does: “If it ain’t broke, fix it til it is.”
Pelosi, Hoyer Say House Won’t Consider Resuming Military Draft
By Jay Newton-Small
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) — The two top House Democrats said they have no intention of bringing up legislation to resume the military draft.
The remarks by Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader-Elect Steny Hoyer come a day after Representative Charlie Rangel, a New York Democrat, said he plans to again introduce legislation to revive the draft when his party takes control of Congress in January.
“The speaker and I have discussed scheduling” for the House next year, Hoyer said after a meeting today with Pelosi. “It did not include” the draft, he said.
‘Nuff said.
Anything these folks do to trip themselves and their constituencies up is good. If they waste the next 2 years making heap big smoke but no fire, so much the better.
In fact, during the draft years it was found that minorities and the economically disadvantaged were the most impacted; many of the better off got student deferments or took off for Canada.
Alberto, As someone who lived through the Draft period, your recollection is correct. With student deferrments (like Cheney’s & Clinton’s), cyst deferments (like Rush’s) or connections to get into the national Guard (like Bush & Quayle), the middle class and well to do in general did not serve in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
No reason to believe it would be any different under any new system.
Point well taken.
Jack, Nixon ended the draft in 1973, the year before my 18th birthday. I’ll be forever grateful to him for not giving me free travel and lodging to visit Southeast Asia. On other matters, I’m not his biggest fan…
Perhaps what Castro Charley has in mind is that professional troops fight with more skill and effectiveness than drafted soldiers.
Apparently he thinks that the US’s enemies can do better then
The new Congress is going to have a screw somebody–whether it’s the KosBot base, or the moderates who actually thought they were voting for moderate Democrats in 2006.
So now I’M confused. There are bunches of liberal groups who are fighting to keep US military recruiters out of our schools but now the Dems want a draft? I mean, that would surely keep the recruiters out of our schools. ????
Do Dems have any idea what they are doing, in general?
Claudia
“Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, has said the all-volunteer military disproportionately puts the burden of war on minorities and lower-income families.”
The problem with that statement is that it is untrue. The military is overwhelmingly white and middle to lower middle class (when looking at enlisted servermembers) and upper class when looking at officers. I know that was the case when I served 2 years ago and I’ve seen stats to back it up (although I don’t have them on hand).
That being said I oppose the draft because forcing someone to work for the government, paying them whatever you decide is equitable, and forcing them to work for an unspecified amount of time is slavery. If they needed me and made the call I’d still go to fight though.