U.S. Institution of a Draft: Negative Position

U.S. Institution of a Draft: Negative Position

Proposition:

Resolved that the Federal government should keep the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) rather than institute a draft.

I. Definition of Terms

1. Volunteer: as defined in Webster's Dictionary is "one who enters into military service voluntarily."

2. Force: as defined in Webster's Dictionary is "a body (as of troops or ships) assigned to a military purpose."

3. draft: as defined in Webster's Dictionary is "a system for or act of selecting individuals from a group (as for compulsory military service)."

II. Attention-Grabber

Ronald Reagan once said, "America was founded on the principle of individual liberty — that the government exists to serve, not enslave, the people. Yet conscription is a form of slavery, a horrible and costly exception to America's founding principle. It is morally repugnant to the ideals of a free society" (Boldin, 2). As an ex-president of the United States, Reagan knows everything about our government, laws, amendments, and what is and isn't considered democratic in practice. In the statement above, Reagan is absolutely correct because drafts require everyone to serve, which characterizes a totalitarian system, rather than allow the right to free choice, which has been a known descriptor of a free society or democracy. Therefore, as a member of the negative team, I firmly withstand to the proposal of a draft to our society.

III. Relevant History

As citizens of the United States of America, we all are granted our constitutional rights. In some of our past wars, drafts were institutionalized and many citizens of America within a particular age range were required to protect our country. However, many people resisted, searching for protection laws from the US constitution to voice their opinions. Most of these resistance movements failed as the Supreme Court stayed relatively firm in their decisions, but many Americans still avoided being drafted by escaping out of the country. The most notable and controversial draft was during the Vietnam War, yet the result was a communist victory over the U.S. and the loss of 58,000 American soldiers (Smith, 1 "1975"). Our intentions were so focused on winning that war that we even implemented a draft and had 543,000 troops at the wars peak (Smith, 3 "1975"). Yet, now it can be argued that the draft added to our losses rather than helped us. Today the draft no longer exists and our army consists of completely volunteers. Yet, many people have convincing arguments that we need a draft because we do not have enough