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The problem with trying to revive the draft, the Selective Service Law, is that the movers and shakers in todays political world, people in their 50's and 60's, all grew up in the era of the draft. They remember how many people, mostly poor and under educated, were sent off to the war in Vietnam to fight an unpopular war. In point of fact, this is the exactly the people that Rangle is aiming this legislation at. He wants to remind them what happens when an unpopular war is fought by draftees. He is not trying to re-start the draft, he is trying to end the war in Iraq, plain and simple.

The thing that most people forget, is that the Selective Service Act is still available. Every year males between the age of 18 and 19 are required to register with the Selective Service Board. It does not take much more than a Presidential declaration of emergency to start the call up of these young men. The fact that no one in the Republican Party, or more importantly the Bush Administration, has even talked about such an action shows just how far from reality Charley Rangel's suggestion is.

Having said all of that, I think that a two year Universal Service requirement for people between the ages of 18 and 21 is an excellent idea. Some of them may be sent to the military for non-combatant duty, but most would be used in some of the dirtier jobs in this country that require cheap manpower to get done. Things like cleaning up after natural disasters, maintaining National Parks, giving assistance to disadvantaged students and schools, patrolling our nations borders, or keeping our neighborhood streets and parks clean. Kids that really want to go to college out of high school could defer their two year service until they graduated, thus providing a cheap work force for some of the less menial, but none the less non-desirable jobs.

The country would get a lot of valuable work done relatively cheap with such a program. The kids would have a chance to grow up while away from their parents and home societies. They would have a chance to be exposed to other parts of society and this very large country. Just think what they could accomplish.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Coyle.
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