[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E428-E429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NO--TO REVIVING MILITARY CONSCRIPTION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 20, 2002

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation expressing the 
sense of Congress that the United States government should not revive 
military conscription. Supporters of conscription have taken advantage 
of the events of September 11 to renew efforts to reinstate the 
military draft. However, reviving the draft may actually weaken 
America's military. Furthermore, a military draft violates the very 
principles of individual liberty this country was founded upon. It is 
no exaggeration to state that military conscription is better suited 
for a totalitarian government, such as the recently dethroned Taliban 
regime, than a free society.
  Since military conscription ended over 30 years ago, voluntary armed 
services have successfully fulfilled the military needs of the United 
States. The recent success of the military campaign in Afghanistan once 
again demonstrates the ability of the volunteer military to respond to 
threats to the lives, liberty, and property of the people of the United 
States.
  A draft weakens the military by introducing tensions and rivalries 
between those who volunteer for military service and those who have 
been conscripted. This undermines the cohesiveness of military units, 
which is a vital element of military effectiveness. Conscripts are also 
unlikely to choose the military as a career; thus, a draft will do 
little to address problems with retention. With today's high-tech 
military, retention is the most important personnel issue and it seems 
counter-productive to adopt any policy that will not address this 
important issue.
  If conscription helps promote an effective military, then why did 
General Vladisova Putilin, Chief of the Russian General Staff, react to 
plans to end the military draft in Russia, by saying ``This is the 
great dream of all servicemen, when our army will become completely 
professional . . .?''
  Instead of reinstating a military draft, Congress should make 
military service attractive by finally living up to its responsibility 
to provide good benefits and pay to members of the Armed Forces and our 
nation's veterans. It is an outrage that American military personnel 
and veterans are given a lower priority in the federal budget than 
spending to benefit politically powerful special interests. Until this 
is changed, we will never have a military which reflects our nation's 
highest ideals.
  Mr. Speaker, the most important reason to oppose reinstatement of a 
military draft is that conscription violates the very principles upon 
which this country was founded. The basic premise underlying 
conscription is that the individual belongs to the state, individual 
rights are granted by the state, and therefore politicians can abridge 
individual rights at will. In contrast, the philosophy which inspired 
America's founders, expressed in the Declaration of Independence, is 
that individuals possess natural, God-given rights which cannot be 
abridged by the government. Forcing people into military service 
against their will thus directly contradicts the philosophy of the 
Founding Fathers. A military draft also appears to contradict the 
constitutional prohibition of involuntary servitude.
  During the War of 1812, Daniel Webster eloquently made the case that 
a military draft was unconstitutional: ``Where is it written in the 
Constitution, in what article or section is it contained that you may 
take children from their parents, and parents from their children, and 
compel them to fight the battles of any war, in which the folly or the 
wickedness of Government may engage it? Under what concealment has this 
power lain hidden, which now for the first time comes forth, with a 
tremendous and baleful aspect, to trample down and destroy the dearest 
rights of personal liberty? Sir, I almost disdain to go to quotations 
and references to prove that such an abominable doctrine had no 
foundation in the Constitution of the country. It is enough to know 
that the instrument was intended as the basis of a free government, and 
that the power contended for is incompatible with any notion of 
personal liberty. An attempt to maintain this doctrine upon the 
provisions of the Constitution is an exercise of perverse ingenuity to 
extract slavery from the substance of a free government. It is an 
attempt to show, by proof and argument, that we ourselves are subjects 
of despotism, and that we have a right to chains and bondage, firmly 
secured to us and our children, by the provisions of our government.''
  Another eloquent opponent of the draft was former President Ronald 
Reagan who in a 1979 column on conscription said: ``. . . it rests on 
the assumption that your kids belong to the state. If we buy that 
assumption then it is for the state--not for parents, the community, 
the religious institutions or teachers--to decide who shall have what 
values and who shall do what work, when, where and how in our society. 
That assumption isn't a new one. The Nazis thought it was a great 
idea.''
  President Reagan and Daniel Webster are not the only prominent 
Americans to oppose

[[Page E429]]

conscription. In fact, throughout American history the draft has been 
opposed by Americans from across the political spectrum, from Henry 
David Thoreau to Barry Goldwater to Bill Bradley to Jesse Ventura. 
Organizations opposed to conscription range from the American Civil 
Liberties Union to the United Methodist Church General Board of Church 
and Society, and from the National Taxpayers Union to the Conservative 
Caucus. Other major figures opposing conscription include current 
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Nobel Laureate Milton 
Friedman.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to stand up for the 
long-term military interests of the United States, individual liberty, 
and values of the Declaration of Independence by cosponsoring my sense 
of Congress resolution opposing reinstatement of the military draft.

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