CULTIVATING CIVIC VIRTUE :

Bring Back the Draft : President Bush keeps saying America is involved in a new kind of war. Now it's time for a new kind of draft. (Zev Chafets, 7/07/02, NY Daily News)

It has been more than nine months since the Islamic sneak attack on America, and it is abundantly clear that the government can't find and train a sufficient number of high-quality personnel to fight back. So Washington will have to do what it has done in times of national emergency since the Civil War: conscript qualified young people. [...]

The first task of the proposed Department of Homeland Security should be to ask Congress to pass a civilian Selective Service Act, mandating two years of compulsory duty for vital personnel--starting with the best and the brightest young men and women in the country. They should have a choice of being inducted after high school or going to college, but any educational deferments would come with an ironclad commitment to future duty.

It seems like it would be worthwhile to have them go through military basic training too. A draft has several things to recommend it : (1) it's the only time many Americans will ever truly mix with peoiple different than themselves; (2) it will train young people to participate in the kind of vigilant national security we may need in the coming years; and (3) it restores the notion that citizenship carries with it certain responsibilities. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 7, 2002 9:16 AM