oh god, this thread and reality are like a slow motion car crash.
Never. Going. To. Happen. Under. Any. Circumstance.
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Iâm curious why you think it wouldnât work.
I think it would work because we already have a stigma against draft dodgers. Itâs not as strong as it used to be because weâre decades past when we abolished the draft. At the time though, the stigma was very powerful. I donât see why we couldnât recreate that to some degree.
For older people, we can again sort of bring up the notion of a service system that works like the military reserves, so long as it results in the same 2 years of service. You serve a weekend every month and some number of concurrent weeks every year until you hit 2 years.
Jury duty is both a good and bad example. Good in that itâs mandatory for everyone, bad in that itâs rarely if ever 2 years straight. Depending on where you live and the cases you end up with, it can be anything from 2 weeks every 10 years to a day or two every 10 years to multiple months if youâre on some sort of blockbuster case.
Realistically, people who already have established lives, families, jobs, etc., should be allowed the flexibility to divvy up their 2 years of service in a way thatâs the least disruptive to them and those who rely on them, provided they still meet some reasonable yearly minimum.
Edit: I also mentioned that a similar system: part time during the school year, full time during the summer, may be a good idea for college students, so Iâm not proposing this as only for old farts like us.
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We elected a draft dodger to the highest office in the land man. We donât really have a stigma against draft dodging. Even at the time/shortly after the draft.
Granted, that was Vietnam, a war so unpopular everyone was trying to dodge the draft if they could.
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We did elect a draft dodger, but Clinton was the first post-Greatest Generation President and the first Baby Boomer president.
Despite Clinton being elected, his dodging the draft was still a big deal politically. Just as it was for George W. Bush and his National Guard Service, and for Trump with his deferments because of bone spurs in his ankles. Heck, when John Kerry ran for president, an actual veteran, you had fake organizations pop up to try and de-legitimize his military service.
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My arguement here seems pretty weak even to me but here it basically is:
I donât think draft dodging is a big deal and Iâm american therefore america doesnât think itâs a big deal.
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Fair enough.
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Dodging the draft is fine. You were avoiding murdering people and/or getting murdered. Dodging completely non-murdery public service is a completely different thing.
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The thing is there were legitimate ways to âdraft Dodgeâ via college or just go to another country. Or get medical exceptions and pretend to be laid up for a while. These only worked cuz the draft is for military service during a war where, chances are, it will be only a few years long.
With compulsory service for all, there are no exceptions. Thereâs no war to wait out. Thereâs no college exception, because what college will admit you? It could be as simple as any University that receives Federal funding of any kind cannot accept any student who has not served the time. Any company that receives Federal subsidy cannot hire someone who has not served.
Id also just be A-OK with if you dont sign up within 12 months of your 18th birthday we issue a warrant. They drag you in. If you donât want to serve: felony+prison. Or leave the country and arrange for transportation out, and donât come back until you have signed up to serve.
Again this would require many many options for people of all walks of life, with at least 5-6 major services that are funded to handle any intake of people so that there are no maximum enrollments⌠And a large number of specialist corps that have maybe some qualifications to join, like say an FAA/NASA service corps for example. 2 years of advanced space camp for those who want to get into the aerospace industry. Or it might involve spending time in an airport changing lightbulbs on the runway or something. Or doing baggage loading/unloading. Or working a desk in some office at LaGuardia dealing with HR.
The idea is that itâs something of a gateway to being skilled and interested in your future while being exposed to people and places outside your home. It would destroy the whole idea of someone who grows up in a town, and never leaves. It doesnât really matter what they do for a job. And weâd have plenty of jobs to do.
Plus it means every adult is at least somewhat experienced out the gate.
Problems exist but itâs not that hard to figure out.
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I agree with pretty much everything you said except this paragraph.
I think people also arenât imagining the full breadth of possible ways in which someone could serve. Itâs basically âtemporarily be a government employee.â
You could go do office work at a town hall somewhere. You could deliver the mail. You could work for the NOAA doing meteorology. You could work for the Smithsonian as a curator OR a security guard. Literally any civil service at the local, state, or federal level could count.
Whatâs important is that people have some say in the work they will be doing, but almost no say in the location. Ok, you want to be a security guard? Well, we need someone at the CDC in Atlanta, off you go. No scamming it and working some fake job in the town you grew up in.
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I donât know if I agree with it either but if that was the rule Iâd be ok with it. Iâd rather use other means, like I said making it required to serve to be hired at any company or institute that receives any Federal funding, or contracts. Itâs not like they donât do that already.
So donât serve? Almost no company can legally hire you. Maybe you canât register a company. You can work for a gas station or a pizza place. You can be a YouTuber and live on Petreon money I guess.
The govt wouldnât be able to deny rights or benefits or stop you from doing what you want. But until you serve in some way, many official doors would be closed to you.
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Itâs too much to discuss the specific details of the carrot and/or stick used to make people serve. Instead, I offer this suggested guideline.
No matter what, no human will lose their rights for refusing to comply.
Example: No jail term.
However, any privileges, not rights, are open season.
Example: We can make sure you never get a driverâs license.
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I would argue that in todayâs world, a driverâs license is pretty much a necessity and not a privilege if you donât live in a major city, but thatâs a minor quibble with your overall point.
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I mean, technically guns are a right and driving is a privilege. Iâd much rather have it be the reverse as well.
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Unfortunately, it doesnât look like any of the ideas mentioned here were brought up, but the final report hasnât been released so who knows.
The article is also unclear as to whether theyâre talking specifically about only military service.
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Well, I do think that if we are going to continue having draft registration as a thing, then all people of all genders should be required to do it.
Also, I never even understood why itâs a separate thing that people have to do. When someone is born a citizen or becomes a citizen (legally) they get documented with a birth certificate or citizenzip papers. No extra action should be required to register for the draft, register to vote, etc.
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Itâs been a long time since I did my draft registration, so I donât remember what was on the form.
However, I wonder if itâs to allow for people to make a decision when they are of age if theyâre going to be conscientious objectors or something, which is something a baby obviously cannot do.
Iâm sure that itâs a legacy from the days when nothing was digital, and that the different govt agencies and departments each had completely independant registries. And that probably due to reasons they arenât able or allowed to actually integrate them now.