I have been skeptical about the likelihood of a military draft in the near future, but I am starting to think it is inevitable.
In the Washington Monthly, Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris give a very persuasive case for the draft, given a commitment to an increasingly-interventionist foreign policy, which they possess. They explain clearly why the alternatives like “Stop-Loss” and “Military Transformation” will not adequately feed the military for a growing US empire.
Of course, Carter and Glastris are not content with the social engineering that can be accomplished by a conscription-fed army can accomplish globally:
A 21st-century draft like this would create a cascading series of benefits for society. It would instill a new ethic of service in that sector of society, the college-bound, most likely to reap the fruits of American prosperity. It would mobilize an army of young people for vital domestic missions, such as helping a growing population of seniors who want to avoid nursing homes but need help with simple daily tasks like grocery shopping. It would give more of America’s elite an experience of the military. Above all, it would provide the all-important surge capacity now missing from our force structure, insuring that the military would never again lack for manpower. And it would do all this without requiring any American to carry a gun who did not choose to do so.
We need to pay close attention to these arguments, but hope that US political and military leaders don’t.