The draft
Warriors-by-numbers
Feb 13th 2003 | BOSTON
>From The Economist print edition
An old and much-loathed scheme resurfaces
THE last man to be conscripted into America's armed
forces was called up on Valentine's Day 30 years ago.
But the idea of the draft as a social equaliser lives
on. In his recent call to renew it, Charles Rangel, an
outspoken black Democratic congressman from Harlem,
noted that few of his colleagues have children in the
armed forces and that a disproportionate number of
soldiers are black. Mr Rangel means mostly to make
Americans nervous about war, and his words won't bring
back conscription. But the idea that the draft was a
useful tool for social engineering endures.
Military recruits these days are 20% black, a
proportion that has held steady since 1979; in the
general population, only 14% of 18-34-year-olds are
black. By contrast, Latinos, America's largest
minority, account for 11% of new entrants and for 15%
of the population at large. Whites, too, are
under-represented.
United States
Wars
Congressman Charles Rangel, Charles Moskos and James
Fallows (editor of the Atlantic Monthly) advocate
renewal of the draft. See also a selection of articles
on the draft by Joshua Angrist.
The relatively heavy proportion of blacks may be seen
as a bad thing: a sign that blacks have fewer
opportunities and end up with the most dangerous and
gruelling jobs. Yet Colin Powell, for one, thinks
their increasing presence both in the ranks and in the
officer corps is a strong sign of success. For many
decades, blacks were under-represented: a legacy of
the segregation of the armed forces, which was not
fully ended until 1954 and which excluded black
volunteers in favour of white draftees. Few blacks
served in Korea or the second world war. And although
many remember Vietnam as a war fought
disproportionately by blacks, it was not until 1972,
near the end of the draft, that the proportion of
blacks in the armed forces reached 11%, more or less
their share of the population at the time.
The draft, in fact, did not do much for social
levelling. Even during the peak Vietnam conscription
years, far more soldiers were rejected for low test
scores than were able to wriggle out of service—as
Bill Clinton was accused of doing—through deferments
for being at college. Many low-scoring applicants are
rejected today (the army is a fighting machine, not a
remedial school). But a new draft might further damage
the chances of those volunteers with most to gain from
military training.
The draft may also damage draftees' capacity to earn
money afterwards in the civilian world. One comparison
between the incomes of men with high lottery numbers
(who were likely to be drafted) and those with lower
ones showed that the conscripts earned about 15% less
than they would otherwise have done, and that the
difference persisted in every year they worked after
they came home. Whatever his views about Iraq, Mr
Rangel's aim looks off.
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:
Your enemy is not surrounding your country — your enemy is ruling your
country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be
the day of your liberation." -George W. Bush 1/29/03
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