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We Need to Reinstate the Draft
No, I’m not kidding. It’s time to step away from our volunteer military.
The first thing I need to make clear is that I have never served in the armed forces. My husband hasn’t served, nor have any of our three children. None of my siblings have served in the military, either.
So I really have “no skin in the game” as they say.
And that is why I so firmly believe that we need a draft system where every young American, of every gender, must serve.
I don’t say this because I love the idea of war or want more American lives on the line. On the contrary.
I say this because we have a system in place now where only volunteers need to fight in defense of whatever it is that the government wants them to defend. I say it because the men and women who are fighting our wars are not representative of the country as a whole.
The Council on Foreign Relations reports that only 0.4 percent of the population is currently on active duty.
Additionally, the report states that the majority of those who serve in all branches of the military come from the middle class. The lower economic class is poorly represented, perhaps because that population experiences greater incidences of mental illness, drug use, and…
