Bi-partisan bill tells government to dump Selective Service System

It’s been 48 years since we’ve drafted men into the military. But Uncle Sam still squanders $25 million yearly to maintain the unused, unneeded, obsolete Selective Service System.

Republicans and Democrats alike have finally joined together to abolish it. Co-sponsored by Republicans Rep. Rodney Davis (IL) and Sen. Rand Paul (KY), and Democrats Rep. Pete DeFazio (OR) and Sen. Ron Wyden (OR), the Selective Service Repeal Act of 2021 (H.R. 2509; S. 1139) calls for:

• Repeal the Military Selective Service Act, in its entirety

• Repeal Presidential authority to order registration for a military draft

• Abolish the Selective Service System, including the data center, national and regional offices, and local draft boards

• Repeal all Federal sanctions for not having registered with the Selective Service System

• Preempt all state sanctions for not having registered with the Selective Service System.

Some, to further equality and inclusiveness, are calling for women to be added to draft registration. That is going the wrong way in fostering a less militaristic society.

But co-sponsor DeFazio put it bluntly:

“No young person, regardless of gender, should be subject to a military draft or be forced to register for a draft in the United States. The military draft registration system is an unnecessary, wasteful bureaucracy which unconstitutionally violates Americans’ civil liberties. We should be abolishing military draft registration altogether, not expanding it,”

Co-Sponsor Paul was more succinct:

“If a war is worth fighting, Congress will vote to declare it and people will volunteer,”

The Selective Service Repeal Act will not end current, senseless military involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, among others. But it recognizes that since perpetual war is never declared by Congress, and conducted without input from the citizenry, draft registration is as obsolete as the horse and buggy.