Allowing Gays in the Military cover for Democrats' real Agenda? Bringing back the Draft

From Eric Dondero:

Democrats in Congress have been pushing for years to bring back the Military Draft and institute a similar mandatory Civilian Corps of mostly young adults to service the Federal Government.

Congressman Charlie Rangle of New York, first in 2003 and then again in 2006, introduced legislation that would require adults to serve in some security or non-security related capacity such as government-run health care, forest service or even the TSA.

Ironically, in 2006, Rangel indicated that his primary purpose for introducing legislation to bring back the Draft was to reduce support among the public for the War in Iraq.

Dems on the side of Special Interests; GOP defends the Troops

From the Washington Post, "Rep. Rangel Will Seek to Reinstate Draft" Nov. 2006:

He offered a plan to mandate military service for men and women between age 18 and 42; it went nowhere in the Republican-led Congress.

He said... "young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals," with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.

Republicans such as John McCain on the Senate side, and Congressmen Ron Paul and Dana Rohrabacher have fiercely opposed such legislation. In fact, Paul (with co-sponsor Rohrabacher) has introduced a bill each year to abolish the Selective Service.

Now the possibility of a requirement of mandatory service may be coming back, ironically, as a result of a new Democrat proposal.

Columnist Peter Schweitzer at Breitbart's BigPeace.com makes the case:

The Democratic Party is held hostage by its liberal base and desperately needs to repeal DADT to placate them before the new Congress convenes in January. How else could the Democrats ignore the conclusion of a Pentagon report that indicates that almost 40% of combat Marines (and 25% of combat Army) may leave the armed forces if Congress overturns the don’t ask, don’t tell policy — and then only seven days later — have all of its Senate Democrats (with the one exception of Senator Manchin of West Virginia) vote in support of overturning that policy.

Only a Democratic party so indifferent to reality could ignore a Pentagon report that projects the hollowing out of our military manpower and breaking of our combat arms during a time of war.

Gays in the Military "would break the infantry units"

In a recent interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Hugh Shelton expressed his concern that overturning DADT would “break the infantry elements” of our armed forces...

these military personnel, mostly in combat arms, will simply vote with their feet and leave the service as they have indicated they will in the Pentagon survey. It’s a voluntary force: would the Democrats prefer to reimpose the draft?

Schweitzer further offers these figures:

Consider the impact these departures could have on the Marines. As of October 31, 2010, there are 202,779 Marines. If up to 40% of this number decided to leave the Marine Corps in the near term as a result of the Congress overturning DADT, it would mean a loss of 81,111 Marines, many of whom are experienced combat veterans.

The Marine Corps only recruited 28,000 new Marines last year, and thus would be required to almost triple its annual recruitment goal just to stay at its current strength.

Loss of Troop strength would offer no other alternative but a Draft

He concludes Democrats faced with such a circumstance, will no doubt resort to their old playbook of force and coercion. Continuing:

if the hollowing out of the military begins to manifest itself in earnest after an overturning of DADT, the Democratic Party, and the country, may be faced with only one effective answer to maintain effective numbers of military personnel: the resumption of the military draft.

Coercion is always the answer of a political class that can’t admit it’s wrong.

Both the Libertarian Party and the Republican Liberty Caucus staunchly oppose the Military Draft, and compulsory National Service.

From the LP platform 2000 (OntheIssues.org):

We call for the abolition of the Selective Service. We oppose any form of national service. We oppose adding women to the pool of those eligible for the draft because we believe that this step enlarges the number of people subjected to government tyranny.

From RLC.org (Statement of Principles):

We oppose any mandatory draft registration or conscription. The best military must be composed of those who voluntarily assume the restrictions and burdens of military service in defense of the nation and the principles of the Constitution.