When should the military draft be used?

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Option 4

[OSR stands with Israel]

Option 3 :

It should be used only for wars such as big as WW2 , civil wars and if you are being invaded

[LBJer]

I didn't vote because none of the options corresponds to my view.  The U.S. has never had a requirement for universal military service (unlike countries like Israel and South Korea), and I see no reason to institute it.  Both the current policy--an all-volunteer force--and the system used from 1940 to 1973, where some people were drafted every year (in both wartime and peacetime) in accordance with the needs of the moment, seem reasonable.  If both systems were judged to work more or less equally well, I would support keeping the all-volunteer force.  If reinstating conscription would allow the military to stay in much better shape than it currently is, I would support doing so, although I would say that women as well as men should be drafted. 

[Frodo]

When we are attacked by a foreign military power on our own soil -and here I am referring exclusively to nation-states.  

While the death toll was comparable to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 did not require the reinstatement of the draft.  If they had been perpetrated by a nation-state instead of a non-state terrorist group however, my answer would have been very different.

[HisGrace]

Maybe I could get behind it in some kind of extreme situation in a tiny country where they were being invaded and needed "all hands on deck". No reason a huge country like here needs to do it. It is obviously a massive human rights violation in any case.

[Ferguson97]

Only if we truly have no other options, but I don't think we'll ever reach that point due to the size of our active personnel and because the nature of the way modern wars are won has changed.

[dead0man]

never

If a country in the US's position (huge population, excellent geographic location, etc) can't survive with the manpower that would volunteer to defend it, then it doesn't deserve to continue on.

Maybe the answer is different for small countries in precarious positions, but my answer is going to be "never" except maybe in the most extreme of circumstances.  If your country is worth defending, it should have plenty of people willing to kill and die for it.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I used to be option 4, but I would go with option 3 now. Being a citizen of a country carries with it a responsibility to that country, and this is an idea that is sadly forgotten these days. Reminding people of that responsibility would help ameliorate a lot of the political problems facing America these days. I digress though.

[somerandomth]

Hopefully never, but only realistically under extreme circumstances

[LBJer]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump. 

[Ferguson97]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump. 

95% of the Atlas community are 18-25 year old men, which is the exact group of people who are eligible to be drafted, so it doesn't really surprise me at all.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump.  

Number 3 has a lot more support than Trump does here and number 3 is basically the status quo anyway.

The fundamental thing is we don't need a draft given how much the nature of warfare has changed including conventional wars. The US already has by far the strongest air force in the world which means we have the power to stop any major land invasion without really even using any ground troops to begin with given a nation cant invade another nation if the other side has control of the skies. We also have the world's strongest Navy so we should have the ability to stop sea invasions as well.

So why would we even need a draft now days as the fact is the nature of warfare has changed a lot.

[oldkyhome]

So long as the US is capable of MAD, probably never, but if we were to be attacked by another nation and nuclear war was avoidable, then yes, we should have a draft.

[HisGrace]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump. 

Not sure there's really any moral argument for why forced labor is okay. As I noted in my post you sometimes have to do morally wrong things to survive in extreme situations but that's not a moral argument.

[HisGrace]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump. 

95% of the Atlas community are 18-25 year old men, which is the exact group of people who are eligible to be drafted, so it doesn't really surprise me at all.

In almost every other circumstance if the group being harmed by a policy is against it that's used as an argument for why it's bad. Unless the group being hurt is young men in which case that's why you should support it, because **** them, amiright.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Basically only in a World War situation where you are facing an existential threat to the country coming from an enemy that is either directly attacking or is likely to directly attack the homeland if they're allowed to proceed. There really is no scenario like that in the modern day due to nukes existing.

[PSOL]

When the survival of our people is at stake

[Ferguson97]

I find it rather bizarre that on Atlas there's a lot more support for Donald Trump than for a military draft.  This just makes no sense whatsoever.  You can make a reasonable moral/philosophical argument for a draft.  You cannot make one for supporting Trump. 

95% of the Atlas community are 18-25 year old men, which is the exact group of people who are eligible to be drafted, so it doesn't really surprise me at all.

In almost every other circumstance if the group being harmed by a policy is against it that's used as an argument for why it's bad. Unless the group being hurt is young men in which case that's why you should support it, because **** them, amiright.

... You know that I'm a 24-year-old man, right?

[Santander]

The US is so large it doesn't ever need a draft. Most countries that have conscription have understandable reasons.

[HillGoose]

imo if it ever got to the point that the military draft even should be used, we would all be WOVLERINES at that point anyway

[Aurelius]

When the homeland is under invasion, or under immediate credible threat of such.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Always. Keeps young people healthy and drug free for 12 months.

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

Never. There is no circumstance in which I would die "for my country".

[Suburbia]

Never. There is no circumstance in which I would die "for my country".

Tell that to the face of a Armed Forces vet and see how you will end up.

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

Never. There is no circumstance in which I would die "for my country".

Tell that to the face of a Armed Forces vet and see how you will end up.

I would be long gone before they'd get a chance to. I would not do it.