A Return to the Military Draft

I believe that Jody Powell is wrong in his belief that a military draft would be a fairer system for minorities and the poor than the voluntary enlistment program. I refer to his column (Editorial Pages, May 6), “Back to the Draft: It’s More Economical, and It’s Right.”

I do agree that the volunteer military is not fair to minorities; because of economic conditions many minorities have few choices other than to join the military. But a draft has never been fair either, and does not provide a solution to the problem.

During the Vietnam War, when we had a draft, poor and minority youth ended up doing military service in disproportionately large numbers, and their casualty rates were twice as high as their population percentages. One reason for this is that middle- and upper-class white youths have the education, money and other resources to make use of all the exemptions and loopholes.

The real solution to this problem is not to add further injustice through a draft, but instead to offer greater job opportunities to the economically disadvantaged.

Furthermore, a draft is involuntary servitude and has no place in a free society. Countries like the Soviet Union, Libya, and South Africa have military drafts. America should be different.

The draft is not an American tradition, having been used a total of only 35 years of our entire history. Whenever the American people have felt their country needed to be defended, there have been more than enough volunteers. A draft is only useful for a war that is not supported enough by the people to attract volunteers.

Many patriotic citizens and American leaders have spoken out against a draft. In 1814 the great statesman Daniel Webster said with regard to a draft proposal: “Is this, sir, consistent with the character of a free government? Is this civil liberty? Is this the real character of our Constitution? No, sir, indeed it is not.” In 1980, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan wrote, “A draft or draft registration destroys the very values that our society is committed to defending.”

While these “values” may have since been abandoned by Reagan’s Administration and possibly forgotten by commentators such as Jody Powell, they continue to be important to myself and hundreds of thousands of others who continue to resist draft registration and a resumption of the draft.

LES GRIPKEY

Escondido