Tell Congress to ABOLISH the agency that runs the military draft

The U.S. law creating the military draft was passed in 1940.  It has oppressed generations of young Americans.  Now we have the opportunity to REPEAL THE LAW and abolish the Selective Service System, the federal agency that runs the military draft.

In April 2019 I posted to my blog this information:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/urgent-tell-the-u-s-govt-to-stop-draft-registration

The government accepted public comments until September 30, 2019.  Here is some information about that.  The U.S. National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service invited comments.  Many people made points such as these:

1. Stop requiring men to register for the draft.
2. Do not extend that requirement to women.  Instead of oppressing both sexes equally, NOBODY should be oppressed.
3. Even if registration continues, people should be able to register as Conscientious Objectors at the outset, rather than the current regulations that allow people to claim CO status only at the point when they are actually drafted.
4. If Conscientious Objectors must perform non-military “alternative” service, make sure that its pay and benefits are at least equal to those of military “service.”

Now let’s PASS NEW LEGISLATION TO STOP REGISTRATION ALTOGETHER!

My April 2019 blog post (above) said that a federal district court has ruled that male-only draft registration is unconstitutional.  This means that the U.S. government would have to EITHER expand draft registration to young women (signing them up to be forced against their will to kill and die) in the name of “equal rights,” OR stop draft registration altogether.

Now a new House bill (H.R. 5492) has been introduced to end draft registration for everyone.  PLEASE URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND BOTH SENATORS TO SUPPORT THIS BILL — AND INTRODUCE A SIMILAR BILL IN THE SENATE.  E-mail Congress through this link:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/repeal-the-us-military-selective-service-act/?link_id=1&can_id=1d662460c0abb8939c5044c82927552b&source=email-lets-end-draft-registration-in-2020&email_referrer=email_691285&email_subject=lets-end-draft-registration-in-2020

H.R. 5492 would:

1. Repeal the Military Selective Service Act (thereby eliminating Presidential authority to order men to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft and eliminating criminal penalties for failure or refusal to register);
2. Abolish the Selective Service System (thereby ending contingency planning by the SSS for the Health Care Personnel Delivery System or any other form of special-skills draft);
3. Prohibit all other Federal agencies from imposing civil sanctions (denial of federal student financial aid, federally-funded jobs, etc.) for nonregistration or using nonregistration as a basis for other adverse determinations (denial of naturalization as a U.S. citizen, etc.);
4. “Preempt” (and thereby override and prohibit) all state sanctions for nonregistration (denial of drivers’ licenses, state financial aid, state jobs, etc.); and
5. Preserve the rights of conscientious objectors under other laws and regulations (such as applicants for reassignment to noncombatant duties or discharge from the military on the basis of conscientious objection).

Contrary to popular myth a draft does NOT decrease the chances or duration or extent of wars.  (The military is not a democracy, but rather an authoritarian top-down dictatorship.)  For more information contact me at glenanderson@integra.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1514 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org