House Passes Bill To Automatically Register Young Men for the Draft
House Passes Bill To Automatically Register Young Men for the Draft
The Selective Service should be abolished, not made more efficient and equitable.
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For one, I think this was already required. I remember having to enroll in selective service.
For two though, whoever calls another draft is dead in the water. It's commonly accepted that starting an actual draft is political suicide.
That said, it would be nice if we could codify that and ban the draft.
You are required to sign up but they usually only can enforce it in ways such as applying for a driver's license or voter registration. Maybe more kids aren't applying for drivers licenses and therefore aren't signing up.
I had to apply at the post office. I'm pretty sure there was a penalty if I didn't, like a fine or jail
$250k fine, but they haven't prosecuted anyone since the 80s, and even then, it was only a handful and typically only when the person went around bragging about it in protest.
The bigger deal is being barred from federal employment, contracts, grants, and other programs. Some states may deny drivers licenses because of it. And it used to mean you couldn't receive federal financial aid for college, but that changed in 2020.
the federal student loans and grants would not be dispersed if you were not signed up by a certain date
That was apparently repealed in 2020.
Wish it would've happened sooner. There was some issue with my school's financial aid office every freaking semester. A week before classes started, I would get a letter that all my financial aid was canceled for failing to register, and I'd have to go in and prove I had. After the 4th time, they finally took a photocopy of my registration and had me sign an affidavit and appended it to my file.
i did not know that, thank you for letting me know, it's good that they repealed that, for my area it wouldn't have made a difference for myself registering as our high school had all of the males do it as part of a civics class.
I wouldn't put it past the Republican party to bring conscription to the table. Probably with all kinds of exceptions and loopholes to either keep their own kids out of it entirely or guarantee cush domestic desk jobs to show how patriotic they are. Everybody else gets to line up with a rifle.
Edit: Well, while I was baselessly speculating, this happened to come up on Lemmy: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/06/trump-world-mandatory-military-service-washington-post/
And with extra psychological torture to the undesirables, and will be sold to their voting base as "antidote to the LGBTQ+ movement".
It would be disastrous for Republicans. Independents and moderates would be furious
I never registered. I got my draft card while I was in boot camp in the '80s. Never filled it out.
Yeah, honestly as long as we aren't willing to change things in a meaningful way, this is somewhat nice. It's like voter registration. It should be automatic (assuming it's required anyway). Sadly we are more likely to make draft registration automatic before voter registration.
Anything that actually required a draft would result in a nuclear exchange before the draft could be called.
If there is a legitimate reason for a draft, a draft may not be necessary anyway. Unless the enemy is offering a peaceful arrangement to everyone they meet, or there's no way to get your family to safety, I think most people would willingly fight.