3 ms·

Want to stop war. Bring back the draft.

by J3L2404 16y ago

randallsquared 16y ago
This is equivalent to killing people until they agree with you, which is basically just making war on a different group of people in the name of "stopping war". And as the Vietnam era shows, it's not even immediately effective, nor a lasting effect.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- J3L2404 16y ago
  No. If everyone is personally in danger of losing a loved one they will be reticent to go along with an unnecessary war, precisely because of the lessons learned in Vietnam.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    If everyone is personally in danger of having a loved one enslaved or killed, they will be reticient to go along with an unnecessary policy of {free trade, socialism, net neutrality, fish&game regulation, pigouvian taxes on alchohol}. Since I oppose the current fish&game regulations, we should enslave random people and force them to work as commercial fishermen (note: this is even more dangerous than the military) until the regulations are changed. This will cause people to agree with me.
- yequalsx 16y ago
  But there were easy ways for the rich (and middle class) to have their children avoid being sent. The essence of believing we need to bring back the draft so that war will be waged less often is that if you make the ruling class' children fight then they will be more careful about making war. If it becomes the case that war stops being a poor man's fight but a rich man's prerogative then possibly wiser decisions will be made. I don't think the war in Iraq and Afghanistan would still be ongoing if the ruling class were forced to send their children into harms way.
notahacker 16y ago
Virtually every warmongering nation in history has deployed conscripts. What makes you think it'll be different this time around?
nickpinkston 16y ago
Instead - let's vastly decrease our standing army, and focus more on quick reaction elite troop and ask for volunteers when we have a big war worth fighting. In WWI&II, the military was far out-gunned and under-manned compared to Germans in the beginning, but the threat was very real - so we mobilized a massive force. If we did this - we'd never end up in wars like Iraq / Afghanistan - imagine trying to raise the volunteers. Maybe the Republicans would go, but then again at least they could vote with their feet - where it counts.

Want to stop war. Bring back the draft.

by J3L2404 16y ago

Want to stop war. Bring back the draft.

This is equivalent to killing people until they agree with you, which is basically just making war on a different group of people in the name of "stopping war". And as the Vietnam era shows, it's not even immediately effective, nor a lasting effect.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
J3L2404 16y ago
No. If everyone is personally in danger of losing a loved one they will be reticent to go along with an unnecessary war, precisely because of the lessons learned in Vietnam.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  If everyone is personally in danger of having a loved one enslaved or killed, they will be reticient to go along with an unnecessary policy of {free trade, socialism, net neutrality, fish&game regulation, pigouvian taxes on alchohol}. Since I oppose the current fish&game regulations, we should enslave random people and force them to work as commercial fishermen (note: this is even more dangerous than the military) until the regulations are changed. This will cause people to agree with me.
yequalsx 16y ago
But there were easy ways for the rich (and middle class) to have their children avoid being sent. The essence of believing we need to bring back the draft so that war will be waged less often is that if you make the ruling class' children fight then they will be more careful about making war. If it becomes the case that war stops being a poor man's fight but a rich man's prerogative then possibly wiser decisions will be made. I don't think the war in Iraq and Afghanistan would still be ongoing if the ruling class were forced to send their children into harms way.

notahacker 16y ago

Virtually every warmongering nation in history has deployed conscripts. What makes you think it'll be different this time around?

nickpinkston 16y ago

Instead - let's vastly decrease our standing army, and focus more on quick reaction elite troop and ask for volunteers when we have a big war worth fighting. In WWI&II, the military was far out-gunned and under-manned compared to Germans in the beginning, but the threat was very real - so we mobilized a massive force. If we did this - we'd never end up in wars like Iraq / Afghanistan - imagine trying to raise the volunteers. Maybe the Republicans would go, but then again at least they could vote with their feet - where it counts.