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Do you think Obama will reinstate the draft?

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Will Obama reinstate the draft?

  • More likely than not.

  • Probably not.

Results are only viewable after voting.
The reasons some Democrats support it are to punish Republicans by threatening their children with conscription and to break the military, both of which would supposedly discourage us from starting wars. (Well, that and their feeling of entitlement to do with others' lives as they wish.) Regardless of whether or not Obama secretly wishes this, he knows it's political suicide. Therefore he and the rest of the Dems, outside maybe those in very secure nut houses like Marin County or Vermont, will never reinstate the draft unless there is a war so large that Republicans would also support it.

I do wish he would go through with his promise to add a couple more divisions to the Army - those cuts Clinton made are devastating. But in a severe recession I suppose that's arguably not a smart thing to do.
 
He likes to brag about all the jobs he has created. He could use the draft to reduce the unemployment rate even more.
 
Well, we haven't had a President since FDR that got the enemy to fire the first shot and then lie about it, so I figure Obama will finally be the one.
 
The problem with a draft is that people that dont want to go to war, many of which are left-wing liberals, and other peace-loving people, would have to put the well-trained troops in jeopardy. Not only that but the military would have to open new or old mothballed training facilites, and then staff them. Then they would have to supply the new troops. Green recruits would not do well in combat. They need to be mixed with seasoned veterans, officers, and NCO's to become an effective fighting force.

I cant see that many politicians would look favorable upon such an idea. It would make more sense to expand the military by adding a few divisions. This would lessen the strain on active forces and allow more downtime between tours of combat. It might also mean less combat action for the national guard and reserves. This concept of a leaner meaner military is disruptive for inactive military personnel.

Of course we could also pull everyone out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Maybe Clinton will start another war. She never was good at being nice when speaking to the press. She is bound to insult whoever she has to deal with. After all she handled the problem with Russia so well.
 
werepossum said:
The reasons some Democrats support it are to punish Republicans by threatening their children with conscription and to break the military, both of which would supposedly discourage us from starting wars. (Well, that and their feeling of entitlement to do with others' lives as they wish.) Regardless of whether or not Obama secretly wishes this, he knows it's political suicide. Therefore he and the rest of the Dems, outside maybe those in very secure nut houses like Marin County or Vermont, will never reinstate the draft unless there is a war so large that Republicans would also support it.

I do wish he would go through with his promise to add a couple more divisions to the Army - those cuts Clinton made are devastating. But in a severe recession I suppose that's arguably not a smart thing to do.
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I never much liked the idea of using the draft to make a point, but you clearly don't even understand the argument people who do support it are trying to make. It's not a way of punishing anyone (and how could it be, unless you're willing to stipulate that Republican kids volunteer for the military in much fewer numbers than Democratic kids). And it's not a way to "break" the military, a theory I have only ever heard in your post.

It's about trying to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. War is fun, war is badass, war is basically a Michael Bay movie in real life...as long as all you have to do to "support" it is slap a bumper sticker on your car. And this isn't a partisan issue, the military is a small enough percentage of the population that most people in both major parties can treat supporting the war (or not) as an abstract idea. The argument is that this wouldn't be the case when supporting a war meant your own children could become casualties in it. And I think that argument is probably right.

But it's still a stupid idea, because draftees DO hurt the military, which limits our ability to fight conflicts we might actually have to fight. And it might swing things too far the other way, with a majority failing to support ANY except the most dire of conflicts, because they don't want to be forced to fight at all.
 
People who think we'd ever need a draft in the foreseeable future are morons.

In case of a real "shit hits the fan" military situation we have enough firepower to blow the shit out of any nation without recalling a single troop and with needing next to nothing on the ground.
 
Border issues, North Korea, Iran, things could heat up pretty quickly. If shit hits the fan all at once, I could see a draft coming.
 
After Vietnam, any politician who reinstates the draft for anything short of World War 3 or a nuclear attack on the United States is committing political suicide.
 
There is no doubt that there will be a draft in the future when we go to war with Europe, but I doubt it will happen during Obama's presidency. He is just setting the foundation for the future conflict.

I wonder how many of you will show loyalty to Europe over America when you're asked to bomb Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. It will be an interesting time.
 
CanOWorms said:
There is no doubt that there will be a draft in the future when we go to war with Europe, but I doubt it will happen during Obama's presidency. He is just setting the foundation for the future conflict.

I wonder how many of you will show loyalty to Europe over America when you're asked to bomb Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. It will be an interesting time.
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You're as bad as the rednecks in the US preparing/hoping for a race war here. You're just a reverse-racist version.
 
Infohawk said:
You're as bad as the rednecks in the US preparing/hoping for a race war here. You're just a reverse-racist version.
Click to expand...

You're just as bad as the Al Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia crying over infidels trampling on their so-called holy land and trying to destroy Islam. Just replace Saudi Arabia with Europe and destroy Islam with your racial supremacy bullshit.
 
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