Bring back the draft. Am I delusional? No, just realistic. Here’s the program.
No military or reserve service. The Army and Marine Corps infantry don’t want men or women that way. Our professional, well-paid Armed Forces are the best U.S.A. has ever had. President Nixon ended the military draft in 1973. I’m a WWII and Korean vet and I know first hand.
The draft would accept only top high school grads for such elite federal services as the Peace Corps, low-rank embassy and consulate personnel, Army Corps of Engineers civilians, environment people, Amtrak, border security and nursing aids.
Education and training would be charged to the State Department, Health and Human Services or other cabinet secretaries. Two-year associate degrees could be conferred and, of course, volunteers could sign up to make it constitutional. Draftees would benefit.
Rigorous, tough in-high school mental, physical, biographical testing (and police checks). The U.S. Supreme Court might have to adjudicate the inevitable challenges from libertarians, leftists, anarchists, Tea Partiers and other contrarians.
It might help solve the economy of 2014, the earliest possible break I foresee Americans getting. Don’t think a GOP landslide this year means prosperity in 2012, we’re in way too deep.
Please let this newspaper hear your reactions. God bless America, though He doesn’t take sides.