Nearly everyone agrees that we need more troops both in Iraq and to meet future challenges, but Rangel's primary arguments for fairness and equality in the military arena are easily refuted. Contrary to some of Rangel's earlier claims, today's military front lines are not filled disproportionately with minorities.
Defense Department figures show that though there are more blacks in the armed services as a whole (22 percent, compared with 13 percent of all 18-to-44-year-old civilians), the difference is because blacks re-enlist at a higher rate than whites. In a report last year, military analysts found that 36 percent of African American soldiers held support and administrative jobs; 27 percent of workers in the medical and dental fields are black.
"These young men and women are high-school graduates with above average aptitude," the report said, "They are not the 'poor and uneducated.'"
The best arguments against a draft are common-sensical: (1) people who don't want to serve don't serve well; (2) a draft by lottery, which is necessary in order to ensure random selection, would cull the dregs as well as the cream of the nation's youth crop, thus reducing quality; and (3) today's military, on average better educated than the U.S. civilian population (96 percent of enlistees have high school diplomas compared with 75 percent of all in their age group), requires well-trained, professional soldiers.
The question isn't whether to draft, but how to encourage quality individuals to volunteer for military service during wartime. The answer should be obvious to any self-respecting capitalist: money. If we want a professional military - and the Department of Defense and the American people seem to - then we should offer professional wages.
I'm betting most Americans gladly would pay a little extra in taxes (read my lips: no more tax cuts) to ensure our military men and women are justly compensated for a job few of us could or would willingly do.