The Draft: Opposing "Benefit!" . . . . . Apologists and Policy Test Runs

It's amazing how Americans repress hypocrisy from consciousness and leave it untagged. The head of the VA, referring to the draft:

"I think that our society would benefit from that, yes sir," Nicholson said.

The secretary recalled his own experience as a company commander in an infantry unit that brought together soldiers of different backgrounds and education levels, noting that the draft "does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving."

He later issued a statement saying his comments had been misconstrued and that he does not support bringing back the draft.

People will offer token opposition to the unpopular ideas they believe-in only until it's no longer expected that they to do so. As the unpopular idea starts to take root and a growing number of people express a will for it, expect such token opposition to be dropped. It would seem most people already have good reasons for it, it's just that the taboo aspect still requires the benefits of a draft be qualified. Even amid qualifications: the conservative might argue a draft would be more economically feasible than massive money spent on PR and advertising to recruit a volunteer military; the liberal might argue against the civil injustice of disproportionally targeting military recruitment at minorities; the leftest might argue that a draft would provide the benefit of increased discontent within the ranks of the military and on college campuses.

The near total absence of dissent among U.S. youth and on college campuses leaves conditions better for spreading the idea of a draft and hastens the day when qualification is no longer needed. Although the taboo could implode with the successful re-orientation of public perception to a new threat, the growth in public suspicion of government-endorsed threats/pretexts means the public threshold for belief is increasingly elevated. With annual rates as high as, or higher than, one half-million Iraqi refugees and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's murdered, it appears as if the U.S. considers a policy of waiting through a genocide more manageable than a draft. As the test run on genocide draws criticism, it would be hard to imagine it mere coincidence that another test run finally emerges.