the draft is certainly loaded with political issues...i agree there. but i do not recall anyone ever suggesting it is illegal.
If we wish to alter the discussion and remove the arbitrary issues surrounding the draft, I would suggest that mandatory conscription be implemented.
Mandatory service for all 18 year olds, male and female, of between 1 1/2 and 3 years, and not limited to strictly military service, but also infrastructure support (building roads, fighting forest fires, or other park service projects), and/or peace corp activities, and health care services (waiverable pending completion of a college or technical training.)
Effectively, the time period would be used to insure that all adults receive some technical training which would be employed for the benefit of the whole country.
They would be paid a stipend, and be housed in government facilities (which they would build themselves), and in exchange they would receive college tuition assistance or a financial cash out upon successful completion of service.
The result would insure that no adult leaves high school without a marketable skill, and/or the job skills and discipline necessary to succeed in the world. And the college tuition assistance would insure that all participants could obtain a college degree, which would have the additional benefit of increasing their earning power in the job market.
Those who opt for the military would receive greater benefits and shorter terms of service, as an encouragement to serve in those dangerous positions.
I think of it as an investment in the people of this nation, and providing ALL people an equal starting place, no matter what their social status, rich or poor.
Controversial? Yes. Logical? Yes. Desirable? I think so.
But it will never happen..
Hawk |
