“Whether you’re able to recall the last military draft or not, if you watch the show This Is Us, then you may have some familiarity,” says a column at Medium.com apparently authored by the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.
The commission was set up by Congress to explore the idea of extending draft registration to young women, as a federal judge has ruled, or ending it altogether, as should be done — or even go all the way to impose a one- or two-year compulsory national service requirement for every young high school grad.
According to the piece, headlined, “This Is Us and the Military Draft,” the “one thing” the commission, the military draft, and the October 21, 2019 episode of this NBC television program, “Nicky’s Number Is Called,” have “in common” is “the Selective Service System.”
Today, the agency threatens young men to register, keeping, at great expense, a badly out-of-date registration list that could be used to conscript those young men into the military. Back in 1970, Selective Service held a draft lottery live on TV whereby young men whose birthdates were picked first got involuntarily shipped off to Vietnam.
A This Is Us 1970 flashback “gives us a glimpse of what that was like in one powerful scene.” Two brothers are at a bar waiting to learn their fate. The commission explains that one brother “is adamant that his birthday will be called.” Drinking heavily, he is more terrified than “adamant.”
His birthdate is picked fifth out of 365 — making it a certainty he will be drafted. Immediately, his brother comforts him with, “We’ll get you to Canada.”
Is the commission signaling its support for my position?
The draft is unconstitutional, unjust and unnecessary.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Action Item: Go HERE to instruct the commission to tell Congress: Don’t extend draft registration to women, end it for everyone. No draft and no forced national service program.
—
See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)
6 replies on “The Draft Goes Hollywood?”
“Today, the agency threatens young men to register”
Maybe, but if so, I’m not seeing it. What they’re doing now is actually worse.
Both of my younger kids got letters from the Selective Service System shortly after their 18th birthdays, “thanking” them for registering, even though they hadn’t.
Unlike you, they didn’t even get the opportunity to commit civil disobedience.
Great point, Tom. One I started to make and then cut from the piece for length — because it takes some explaining.
The SSS admits that 75% of the registrations are “passive” — either they were registered involuntarily, i.e. without being asked, as with your kids, or registered after being stopped from getting college financial aid or any other manner of government assistance.
This program is so convolutedly stupid. It should end. Go to this link and tell them to END DRAFT REGISTRATION:
https://inspire2serve.gov/publiccomments
I would very strongly support Amerikastani conscription. Why? Because it’s only when their spawn and siblings are at risk of losing life and limb that Amerikastanis, as they did during Vietnam, might finally oppose their criminal empire’s endless wars of imperialist aggression. Not before.
Good point in Paul’s article here. As I am a friend of his, and was draft eligible (just lucky to escape) I find very few younger people are even aware that there was a military draft. Clueless, which I hesitate to say, is their usual position about the past.
Being totally unnecessary, draft registration is today like most of rationing was during WWII. Not really useful to the war effort but heavily promoted to enforce groupthink pro-war “patriotism” for the masses.
The main weapon for mandatory draft registration is the many government “benefits” like student loans and grants, other similar handouts, wherein young men must prove they have registered or will be denied the freebies.
350, the only lottery I ever won, no greater prize.
Bringing back the draft might result in curbing our insane foreign policies.Amazing how many hawksthere are cheering on our interventionist foreign policies which exist primarily to enrich te MIC/Banksters.Te reinstatement of the draft might give them something to think about if their child were to be sacrificed on te altar of corporate/bankster profit.