this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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That's what it became after the draft was abolished... for the time being, hopefully forever.
Imagine the power these people had before that legislative event. "You've been drafted. You will go to South Pacific/Korea/Vietnam or you will go to jail."
It was a double-edged sword. Conscription was deeply radicalizing, both in terms of domestic discontent and labor militarization.
Once Nixon ended the draft and converted operations to air war/special forces, the domestic opposition to the wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia rapidly fizzled out. And by the 1980s, our War on ~~Poor People~~ Crime effectively put the kabash on the kind of neighborhood organizing/defense that kept communities from falling under aggressive police cartels.
I think American politicians don't really want conscription today any more than the people do.
Jail has never sounded so good.