The draft is not the answer …

Frontiersman editorial board

Representatives Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., announced last week that they would ask the House to consider legislation that would bring back the military draft. The logic behind this request is that the all volunteer force is disproportionately staffed by minorities who join to escape poverty. The two members of the Congressional Black Caucus say the draft would ensure that the children of the rich would serve alongside the children of the poor.

It's a bad argument at best, and it's made for all the wrong reasons. Rangel said the move, with war looming in the Persian Gulf, was also a way to increase a sense of patriotism and obligation. It seems clear, however, that the argument to reinstate the draft is a political one, not a patriotic one. It is intended to focus attention upon economic inequities that still exist in American society. That in itself is a worthy cause, but it is cheapened in this context.

In the first place, it makes no sense to apply a "share-the-wealth" kind of logic in a case like this. If the problem is poverty, the answer is not to force privileged young people into military service, but is rather to find viable solutions to the challenges of poverty. Rather than re-institute the draft, why not champion a program that improves primary education for those living in poverty, and makes college more accessible to them? Why not give poor people alternatives to military service rather than impose mandatory service upon the entire population? When you catch the flu, you try to make yourself better, you don't look for ways to infect everyone else. The military is not short on troops. The problem is poverty, not patriotism.

Another problem with this suggestion is that the draft was never a guarantee against inequality and discrimination. During the Vietnam conflict, when there was an active draft, blacks accounted for around 12 percent of the casualties while they only accounted for around 10 percent of the population. Many sons of wealthy and influential parents were kept safe from the draft during those years, and there is no reason to believe the well-connected would be any more likely to serve now.

There are times when important arguments are cheapened by political posturing, and this is one of those times. Let's get back to the point and solve the problem -- let's make life better for everyone, not worse.