• SpaceCowboy
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    5 months ago

    Kinda a nothing burger really. The military doesn’t want conscripts unless there’s an existential threat to the country.

    So there’s two scenarios:

    1. Selective service continues to exist and is only used if there’s an existential threat to the country
    2. Selective service is eliminated and is re-instated only if there’s an existential threat to the country

    Option 2 is preferable since it eliminates the cost of a program that will likely never be used again. But it still doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a draft since if the country were under an existential threat in the future, legislation can be passed to bring it back. So Option 2 isn’t effectively different from Option 1, other than the cost savings.

    As it is, selective service is basically just a political talking point, and a way to “own the libs” or whatever. The best way to argue against it is to make an argument around the cost of a program that doesn’t really accomplish anything. But the libs take the bait and argue about not wanting to be drafted, which isn’t wrong, but that makes the libs look weak in the eyes of many, and it allows Republicans get to make hay about their opposition being weak.