Home > Rumor of a Draft Touches a Nerve
By Kathleen Hennessey
Bush and Kerry deny conscription plans, but Rock the Vote raises the specter.
WASHINGTON - An army of new voters received a startling call to serve recently, when one of the largest nonpartisan groups trying to increase voting by young people sent fake draft cards to nearly 640,000 e-mail addresses.
"You’ve been drafted" was the subject line of the message sent by Rock the Vote. The message contained an image of a draft card addressed to the recipient and warned, "real cards may be in the mail soon if the situation doesn’t improve."
President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry both have rejected suggestions that they would move to reinstitute the draft, positions they reiterated in their debate Friday night in St. Louis.
But by raising the threat of the draft, Rock the Vote has staked its claim as the edgiest of the multimillion-dollar campaigns trying to push young people to the polls. The effort has also caught the attention of Republicans, who said the group misled voters and crossed into partisan politics.
"It has the face of a nonpartisan group, yet it’s promoting the agenda of the liberal left," said Alison Aikele, spokeswoman for the College Republican National Committee. Aikele said has she received complaints from local chapters about draft rumors on campus.
Rock the Vote political director Hans Riemer said the group was trying to inform its members about the limits of U.S. military forces, not persuade them to vote for a particular candidate.
"It would be crazy if young people went to the polls and didn’t factor this into their votes, however they come down on it. It’s very real," said Riemer. "We’re one major military conflict away from the draft. I don’t see why candidates get to talk about war all day long and we can’t talk about a draft."
Despite the stated opposition by Bush and Kerry to reinstating the draft, a recent survey found that only a quarter of young people knew this, compared with 42% of older people.
About half of 18- to 29-year-olds believe that Bush wants to reinstate the draft, according the poll conducted by the Annenberg National Election Survey this month.
Last week, House Republicans sought to dispel suggestions that the war in Iraq could lead to a new draft by hastily bringing the idea to a vote and defeating it in a 402-2 vote.
But that move is unlikely to end the talk on college campuses.
"If there is a draft, I would still be eligible," said University of Michigan student Paul Indyck, explaining why he was leaning toward Kerry.
Forum posts
13 October 2004, 01:38
Please stop scaring people. The draft is not coming back; the President has made it very clear.
13 October 2004, 03:30
How can anyone think that we won’t need a draft with the imperialist plans of both Bush and Kerry? Kerry says he will add 40,000 troops but doesn’t explain from where. Bush says the military will be all voluntary. It seems with their current lies and horrible treatment of our military, the voluntary army isn’t going to work out, but that won’t stop them from trying.
Is taking over our children’s classroom and trying to talk them into killing and dying for our corrupt government...voluntary? I just read this at cleveland indymedia
"I’m a high school student in Bowling Green, and the other day a guy from the ROTC came in & took over my gym class. We were forced to go through military drills (attention, saluting, laps, jumping jacks, push ups, etc). Hmm, what does this have to do with physical education? Anyone showing any interest in the military was pressed to join, and of course he gave out shirts to some folks too. The recruiter said that having tables in the cafeteria hadn’t been getting enough people enlisting, so this was their way to get more recruits. The day after, he was taking over one of the home ec classes all day. Supposedly the recruiters are going to be coming back to school pretty regularly doing this. I don’t know if this is a national campaign, but if anyone else has seen this going on, I’d like to find out. Also, if anyone has any suggestions on how to stop the military from taking over my school, please contact me."
This is SICK! How can we ask our children to pay the price for their elders corruption and greed? Is it fair to ask them to give their lives for these already ridiculous rich a**holes?
If they want to bring on the draft, let’s just chance the age. People who are older are definately capable of driving convoys and they have already had a chance to live their lives and raise children, so let’s draft adults over 50. YOU made the mess, YOU clean it up. When you go to the polls to vote for Bush and his war on the world, if you are 50+ they can just sign you up then and there.
14 October 2004, 00:14
Yes f\/ck all those old fucks who just sit around and drive really slow. Send their half dead ass to kick some rags b/4 sending my 3years of college down the drain so that rich clit cover (bush) can have more oil to destroy the environment. please spend the trillions on hydrogen power so that I’m not dependant on a texas bastard!