A cold draft

A University of Minnesota professor has proposed a draft of all "adults ages 18 to 65, excluding parents of young children" and "a two-year mandatory public-service requirement for 18-year-olds in an organization such as the Peace Corps" (Minnesota Daily, Feb. 6).\nIn the Jan. 23 Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune, Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs associate professor Barbara Crosby wrote that a universal draft would ease military families' burden, and told the Minnesota Daily that it would make U.S. citizens "more likely to question the validity of armed intervention." According to her Star Tribune column, older draftees "could work on nation-building endeavors, such as microfinance projects or educational programs."\nLikewise, the 18-year-olds in mandatory public service "might do much to improve conditions that spawn hopelessness (and prime the terrorist recruitment pipeline) in the poorest parts of the world today." Her Humphrey Institute colleague, Dennis Donovan, praised this latter idea, saying that "It changes a culture of 'me first.'"\nPerhaps -- but either plan replaces this "culture of 'me first'" with a culture of "do our bidding or we'll throw you in jail."\nWe're all for helping the less fortunate, and we feel for military families bearing the brunt of our conflicts abroad, but what's more repressive than forcing 180 million Americans (62.5 percent of the population) to carry out government projects? Even mandatory service for 18-year-olds would take fundamental freedoms away from about 7 million U.S. citizens, violating the 13th Amendment's prohibition against slavery and "involuntary servitude." Nothing short of an existential threat to the nation -- and, hence, all our freedoms -- could justify such a profound violation of human rights. \nAnd this is not to mention that our entire military is based around volunteer service, with Pentagon officials and most military experts saying that a draft would be wasteful, even harmful to our armed forces. (Here's a novel idea: How about attracting recruits by raising salaries and benefits?)\nThis is less about concern for military families or good works, than the authoritarian whimsy of those who want to control your life "for your own good."\nDissent: Draft would benefit society\nIf we as a public have become so uninterested in maintaining democratic principles that America is in need of a political ploy like reinstating the draft, perhaps a serious re-evaluation is in order.\nIf our nation has reached this theoretical apathetic state, the personal threat a draft creates not only forces policymakers into thorough deliberation; it forces currently unconcerned Americans to seriously consider their roles in society.\nA draft demands support. Support through involvement in the democratic process or support signifying that current policy is an accurate representation and preparation to fight for said policies.\nConsider the underlying political implications. Whether the public reacts with vigor or fury, it is public expression that has allowed our country to sculpt a system of liberties that allows us to claim we are above forced service to that system. It's simple: People will protect what they value whether it's their lives or our political system.\n--Rachel Fullmer