by A. M. Gilbert

Created on: July 13, 2010   Last Updated: July 23, 2010

Ayn Rand once wrote, "Of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy, the military draft is the worst. It negates man's fundamental right-the right to life-and establishes the fundamental principle of statism: that a man's life belongs to the state, and the state may claim it by compelling him to sacrifice it in battle. If the state may force a man to risk death or hideous maiming and crippling, in a war declared at the state's discretion, for a cause he may neither approve of nor even understand, if his consent is not required to send him into unspeakable martyrdom-then all rights are negated in that state, and its government is not man's protector any longer."

As this quotation suggests, any democratic or republican government has an obligation to uphold its citizens' rights. The United States should not implement a new military draft for three main reasons: The draft is unjust to citizens, the volunteer army serves as a safeguard against unjust military conflicts, and the volunteer army is a more fair and effective institution.

The first point of contention is that the draft is unjust to citizens. This has two major facets. First, the draft militarizes society. Rick Jahnkow writes, “Because draftees are in the military for only two-year terms instead of four or six, there is a much higher turnover of personnel.” This simply means many more people are going through the military conditioning to make them willing killers. However, soldiers do not receive demilitarization and societal adjustment preparation upon discharge. The draft allows the government to train people to kill, yet does not provide for steps to reintegrate them as civilians.

Furthermore, the draft impedes upon citizens' rights. To quote Congressman Ron Paul, “It's said that the 18-year-old owes it to his country. It could just as easily be argued that a 50-year-old chicken-hawk who promotes war and places the danger on the innocent young owes a heck of a lot more to the country than the 18-year-old being denied his liberty for a cause that has no justification.” Paul makes the essential point that it is not the government's right to demand such drastic service of its citizens. In the draft this applies especially because those conscripted are America's youth, who should be willingly training to become productive members of society, not being strong-armed into training to become soldiers. Moreover, the draft compromises the protection from “involuntary

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