Conscription
1980: Jimmy Carter begins registering young men 18 years of age for a possible draft. The cold War is raging; NATO confronts a numerically superior Warsaw Pact, the Russian communists invade Afghanistan, Iran is holding American hostages, and US confidence is slipping.
2002:There is no Soviet Union, No more conflict over who is the superpower, no credible evidence of possible global conflict, communism is all but deceased, Washington's Democratic\Capitalist allies dominate key regions around the globe, and The United States of America reigns supreme, both Economically and militaristically.
The United States Government should stop registering young men for a possible draft.
In the late 1970's the carter administration contended that registration was "a necessary step to preserving or enhancing our national security requirements". Unfortunately for those officials, exactly one week prior to the president's announcement, the selective service prepared a report citing, post mobilization registration as "preferable " to a peacetime system.
English: Presidents Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Ge...
English: President Jimmy Carter and Soviet General...
Official Portrait of President Ronald ReaganScrambling to find an alternative rationale, Office of Management and Budget deputy director John White contended that the president was merely "indicating to the world our resolve". However there is little evidence that the world even noticed.
During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan, a long time opponent of conscription, denounced enlistment for doing "little to enhance our military preparedness" He debated that draft registration actually decreased military vigilance "by making people think that we have solved our defense problems" and by annihilating "the very values that our society is committed to defending".
President Bill Clinton, who himself worked so hard to evade service in Vietnam, announced his opposition to congressional proposals to end the draft sign-up. Enlistment is, he explained "essential to our national security".
To conclude I ask that you reevaluate your support or even opposition to conscription. Then taking whichever course of action...