Since humans first evolved, we have been honing our weapons and preparing for ever-increasing violent conflict. War, and the presumption that more war is just over the horizon, has been our standard operating procedure for millennia, if not longer.
Perhaps out of guilt, the Romans went as far as to justify this mindset with their famed expression Si vis pacem, para bellum: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Thousands of years later, we should not still be following their lead on matters of war and peace. But we do and have been for decades.
In one way or another, following the 1917 entry into World War I, the US has had a Selective Service System (SSS) collecting names, addresses, and birth dates of citizens for a potential draft into military service in the event of conflict. During WWI, WWII, and the Korean, and Vietnam wars, this led to a draft of more than 16 million men. To this day, young men must continue to register for the Selective Service System.
This is but one undeniable example of how militarism — the nonstop preparation and march toward war — has taken root and entrenched itself into our everyday lives. Most consider it perfectly normal to register for the draft with barely a thought given to what you are forced to sign up for.
Feeding a False Narrative
Supporters of the SSS will say it is necessary to both fight and win a war should the strategy of deterrence fail. They argue that a large list of registrants shows potential adversaries that the US has the human capital ready to win in a protracted war anywhere across the globe.
This is incredibly shortsighted and continues to feed into the false narrative that in order to have peace, one must have the power to destroy all opponents at a moment’s notice. History has shown this not to be the case. And if Congress makes the correct decisions before the year is out, we may ever so slowly begin to claw back reality into our defense decision-making.
This is incredibly shortsighted and continues to feed into the false narrative that in order to have peace, one must have the power to destroy all opponents at a moment’s notice.
The National Defense Authorization Act, the defense policy bill that must be passed by Congress each year, is currently being negotiated, with a final bill expected in November or December. The Senate version includes a glaringly harmful provision aimed at expanding the draft to women and automating registration through other federal records. Notably, the House version would only automate registration of young men. These proposals, supporters will tell you, are attempts to optimize and simplify the draft system.
But the truth of the matter is these are misguided attempts to prolong and expand a failing and dysfunctional draft system that should instead be abolished entirely.
“A Move Backward”
Fundamentally, it is wrong to compel people to participate in violence against their will. As the Friends Committee on National Legislation said in a 2021 coalition letter to Congress, the proposal to expand draft registration to women “does not represent a move forward for women; it represents a move backward, imposing on young women a burden that young men have had to bear unjustly for decades — a burden that no young person should have to bear at all.”
This September, we came together again to write Congress to reject this expansion of Selective Service as doubling down on a wrong instead of righting it, and argue automatic registration would not fix any of the Selective Service’s many existing problems but would instead cause new ones.
Punishing Conscientious Objectors
The SSS registration requirements put extraordinary punishments on conscientious objectors who choose to exercise their right to resist registration due to deeply held religious and/or moral objections. These can include not being able to obtain federal or state jobs, some states’ student aid, and some states’ driver’s licenses.
On top of that, maintaining the SSS only provides Congress and the president with further opportunity to plan and conduct war. Between 1940 and 1973, the US had an active draft for all but one year, and engaged in hot and cold wars in Asia, Europe, and Central America. Despite massive public discontent with the draft and the ongoing wars, both continued, with drastic penalties for non-compliance. Preparing for and conducting a draft has not reduced the likelihood of war — it exacerbates it.
Spending $25 million or more a year forcing young people to risk having to fight is a financial and moral cost the American people shouldn’t pay. After all, ut sementem feceris ita metes: “You reap what you sow.”
Top photo: A photo shows an anti-Iraq War protest on March 19, 2006, in Oregon (Headwes/Wikimedia Commons)