While most college students today can say they remember Bill Clinton being in office, I don't think too many of us were interested in politics six years ago. I know that, at least for me, this coming year will be my first chance to see what Democrats will do with political power on the Federal level, now that they have control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. I can honestly say I do not know what's going to happen, since the candidates ran on nearly no political platform and had to say little outside of a few criticisms of the Bush administration and the War on Terror to gain the confidence of the disappointed American electorate. One of the interesting things I have discovered post-election is the support many Democrats have for a reinstatement of a military draft.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, says that he plans to introduce legislation that would reinstate the draft as soon as the new Democrat controlled Congress convenes in January. I was initially surprised by this, for in my time spent following politics I had gathered that Dems are typically against affairs involving the military. He claims that the percentage of enlisted soldiers that are of lower income or of a minority group is larger than the percentage of those in the entire population, and he feels that this is unfair and can be solved with a draft. Now I see the connection: it's an issue involving the poor and minorities. He also feels that the United States will not have enough volunteer soldiers if it must challenge nations that are growing threats to the West, such as Iran and North Korea, and that a draft will become necessary to protect our country and our way of life.

It seems that Rep. Rangel is imaging problems where there are none, and his solutions are wrong whether a problem exists or not. The fact that minorities are overrepresented in the military does not suggest any problem with the system, and forcing more citizens, middle-class white males or not, to enlist against their will would do nothing but bring down the capability of our troops. Ask any military veteran, volunteer battalions are more capable and more willing to do their job well than drafted men by a landslide. As for a need for additional troops, there does not appear to be a shortage of willing men and women ready to volunteer to serve their country and defend their values. And the day that the government seeks to go to war but cannot muster the manpower is the day the government should be forced to rethink its military endeavors. There is no justification for any form of government conscription. Politicians cannot justify their means by claiming their end is the protection of the American way of life, especially when their means inherently destroy the freedom which our nation holds as its greatest value.

I am still quite unsure as to how the Democrats will do in Washington in these upcoming years. I just hope this is not a preview of what is to come. Rangel claims that it is hypocritical to support the war and not a military draft, but the suggestion of an infringement on an individual's rights for the sake of protecting his or her rights is an unsettling contradiction.