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THE NATURE OF THE BEAST -- MAGINOT LINE NOT ENOUGH TO
PROTECT FROM DRAFT
For many, the main fear of the draft is focused on the
'old' kind of draft, that existed prior to its abolition
during the Vietnam War. But there are many dangers besides
the most obvious one that was the focus, for example, of
Cong. Rangel's attempt to put forward a bill for a draft
without the exemptions that turned it so heavily into a
'class draft' in the 1960s. But there are ways around
coercing poor youth to fight in wars in a draft from which
college students may (or in the Rangel plan) may not be
exempt. And it is possible to have plenty to worry about
even if a 'fig leaf' of an all-volunteer military is
maintained.
Consider, for example, the idea of National Service,
which has been bandied about during both the Clinton
years and in the period immediately following 9/11.
It is an idea that has a certain cachet, different from
a nasty old draft, and it can also be a tool to solve the
shortage of willing recruits to fight in unpopular wars.
Consider a possibility of a two year requirement, falling
upon youth of both genders in the age groups between 19
and 21. Then, if you don't want to clean bedpans for a
couple of years at the minimum wage, in a "character
building" experience, you could be offered the option of
military service or National Guard duty on somewhat better
terms. First, you might only have to serve a year rather
than two years if you go into military duty. Then the
sweeteners currently used to recruit into the military
today could come into play: college tuition, resume,
better pay and benefits (than national service) etc.
Suddenly, kids caught up in this program of coercion
into "service" are much more apt to "volunteer" for
military duty. Intermediate sweeteners could be offered
for National Guard or for Reserve duty, as the risk of
being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan would be presumably
less, with a military flush with "recruits".
A program like this would, in the kind of thinking
of those in power in the US today "untie" their hands, by
tying the hands of youth. It fits their approach, if
you'll pardon the overplaying of a metaphor, like a glove.
But inside that glove are the hands of something whose name
is all but banished from the mainstream of American
politics, absent even in much of the peace movement in this
country: imperialism.
Oh you "don't have to worry" -- you're in the
'college attending' strata of society? Well, there is
likely to be a system laden with exemptions, the better to
use this nondraft draft as a 'social policy', a jobs program
W-style. But what about those data bases? Could be
worrisome, especially if they decide that, with a lame duck
presidency and all this person-power, they would like to take
care of some other problem, the W way, say Iran or N Korea.
Dangling in front of their noses like Magritte's apple would
be the opportunity to extend the "National Service" program
a bit, to iron out its 'class discriminatory' character.
And again there's those databases, reportedly using private
ontractors so as to blatantly evade the purposes of the
Privacy Act. And what if you take a year off while in
college -- would you be vulnerable?
Imperialism may be many things, but being in
the interests of youth isn't one of them. Offering
protection for Social Security from evisceration isn't
another. We need to start talking much more not only about
the draft but also its variations; otherwise what would be
constructed is only a partial defense, a Maginot line against
a portion of a broad area of possible attack. And while
we're at it, we must also start addressing ourselves to the
question -- do we want this country to continue hurtling
down the path of intensifying imperialism?
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