Senate Agrees to Draft Women
June 16, 2016
ON Tuesday, the Senate approved a bill that would require women to register for the Selective Service, making them eligible for mandatory conscription. Here we have another major issue that the American people will never get a chance to vote on directly.
Oops, but wait a minute. Many voters expressed their views on this issue when the Equal Rights Amendment was rejected in the 1970s, largely because they believed it would lead to the female draft. (Interestingly, some also opposed the ERA because they believed it would lead to the end of single sex bathrooms. How ridiculous!)
The entire fight against the Equal Rights Amendment may be nullified.
— Comments —
James N. writes:
The discussion by conservatives about the Congress ordering, or permitting, the drafting of women is grossly overblown. It’s an example, another example, of meaningless legislation being drafted or enacted for symbolic purposes – to raise campaign contributions, to affect election results, to stir up supporters, etc.
First of all – there is no draft. Registration of men is registration for no meaningful purpose. Registered men are not being classified, and in fact there is no legislative authority to do so.If registrants (men or, in the future, women) were to be classified and then involuntarily inducted into the armed forces, a new law would have to be passed, because the existing “draft registration law” permits neither classification nor involuntary induction.
The year I registered for Selective Service on my eighteenth birthday, I was classified within seven days. That year, over 296,000 men were involuntarily inducted into the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps.
Men who register do so because if they don’t, they may lose some Federal benefits. They are at no risk of involuntary induction (“being drafted”), and there is no realistic possibility of legislation being passed to permit involuntary induction now or in the future.
The current Selective Service System is a meaningless Federal jobs program (for its bureaucrats and clerks). If it were abolished tomorrow, or if women were required to register tomorrow, nothing would change.
Laura writes:
As I have said before, I don’t believe women will ever be drafted into combat. After all, that would kill feminism in a day.
But it is the height of arrogance to promote the idea — a smokescreen to divert attention from more important issues.
