Unconditional Surrender Truman
Harry S Truman
Atlas Icon
Posts: 14,139
|
 |
« on: April 27, 2017, 02:39:56 AM » |
|
I can see that I'm in the minority here, and I don't expect to convince anyone, but I'd just like to point out that in the absence of a draft, the Union would in all likelihood have lost the Civil War (something I hardly believe would have been good for the country, its citizens, or the world). War and popular opinion are not nearly as simple as whether the country is worthy of defense. Historically, most major conflicts in our history have followed a similar trajectory. At the outset, there is normally a great, patriotic outpouring, and volunteers are easily found; but as the fighting drags on, and the casualties begin to add up, that spirit is replaced by an understanding of what war actually means. It becomes harder and harder to find willing recruits, not because citizens believe the country is not worth defending, but because they would rather someone else were responsible for it. To insist that it would be better for the nation to submit to the conquest of a foreign enemy than to conscript citizens into military service strikes me as a very odd position – and I say this as someone who would have opposed every war waged in the last fifty years.
To clarify: I don't think a draft is at all necessary at the present time, nor likely to be necessary for the foreseeable future. I would happily support legislation to abolish the Selective Service, and would just as happily support this amendment were it restricted to conscientious objectors (or, for that matter, if a clause were added allowing Congress to temporarily reinstate the draft by a 2/3 vote). Yet to engrave in the Constitution a prophesy that we will never again have need for the last resort of conscription strikes me as foolish and short-sighted, and I would ask the Congress – with little hope of success – to reconsider the extent of this proposal.
|
