I’ve been reading a few different opinions about the possibility of a military draft. The recruiting numbers are abysmal lately, leading some to wonder if a draft is inevitable. Eugene Volokh argues that a draft is unlikely because it would be political suicide for any who proposed it, noting that the last draft proposal died in the House, 402-2. Jim Lampley falls into the Charles Rangel camp of anti-war sentiment that believes a draft would force war supporters to confront the possibility that their child might have to go serve. Nobody in the military brass wants a draft; they know that conscripted troops make poor soldiers and a demoralized military.
Mark my words, this shortfall of soldiers will be alleviated by combining our two unwinnable wars – the War on Terrah and the War on Drugs. You just wait. Somebody will come up with the brilliant idea of offering the option of military service in lieu of prison sentences for those non-violent offenders convicted of drug “crimes”.
We’re already arresting close to 800,000 potheads a year and the prisons are stuffed to overcrowding. Violent criminals are being released to make room for the ever-increasing drug prisoner population. And corporations already prefer to use drug prisoners for their close-to-slave-labor because drug prisoners are productive and easier to control than their violent, hardened criminal counterparts.
How long do you think it will be before some “tough on crime” / “support the troops” politican figures out that many non-violent drug offenders might jump at an offer of one-year military service and a felony conviction wiped off their record, instead of a 5-to-20-year mandatory minimum sentence at federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison? That stance would serve both wars at once, alleviate prison overcrowding, and garner a whole lot of votes.
Hmmm… maybe I shouldn’t be giving them any ideas. But when it happens, remember: you read it here first.
