Fight the draft!

Scott Campbell, the Selective Service System’s director for operations and chief information officer, swears his agency isn’t gearing up to resume the draft. But they’re making plans to test its draft machinery anyway, just in case Bush needs it. This just three days after Bush announced that he wants a bigger military.

While the Masters of War ready themselves for reinstitution of the draft, all radical libertarians should ready themselves to fight the draft now, before it gains any new foothold. As Jerome Tuccille wrote 36 years ago:

“The military draft must be regarded as the most brutal and unjust government institution in existence today. For here it is not a question of men’s pocketbooks and property being plundered by government; life itself — existence, the most valuable gift man possesses, without which all other freedoms are impossible — is under direct attack. Libertarians should align themselves with draft resisters throughout the country. They should set up picket lines around the draft boards; lend encouragement and moral and physical support to all young men who decide not to be inducted.” (Radical Libertarianism: A Right Wing Alternative, 1970)

I believe we can’t sit quietly and wait on this issue. Production of anti-draft flyers, pamphlets, and posters must begin immediately. Organization of anti-draft marches should commence now. Draft-resistance counselors should make plans to act on a moment’s notice.