<story><title>Drafting Only Men for the Military Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/us/military-draft-men-unconstitutional.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Pristina</author><text>Do you think slavery is fine then? If compelled labour in the military is permissible by you because people have &amp;#x27;obligations&amp;#x27; to the government? What is a government except as an entity to ensure people&amp;#x27;s natural rights are not infringed. And we are somehow obligated to be slaves to this entity?</text></item><item><author>lsiebert</author><text>If you mean unpaid labor, then that&amp;#x27;s not how drafts work, but I&amp;#x27;ll assume you mean forced labor.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve seen the same argument used regarding taxation.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d argue that people have duties and obligations to their government, just as a government has duties and obligations to it&amp;#x27;s citizens.&lt;p&gt;So I absolutely believe that the government has a right draft people to defend the country.  Drafting people just to wage war to advance our interests I have a lot more qualms about.</text></item><item><author>henvic</author><text>There is no legitimate reason to draft anyone.&lt;p&gt;People aren&amp;#x27;t your slave. It doesn&amp;#x27;t matter that there might bad consequences if there is something &amp;#x27;to be done&amp;#x27;.&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t respect human beings as individuals in the first place, we already lost.</text></item><item><author>lsiebert</author><text>I suppose the draft doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily have to be for military service for a war with other countries.&lt;p&gt;For example, if we learned that something large was on a collision course for the earth, we might have years to prepare to deflect it, or to build shelters, or something along those lines, but I can absolutely see a mobilization being necessary.&lt;p&gt;Of course, there&amp;#x27;s no legitimate reason why we&amp;#x27;d mobilize men and not women.</text></item><item><author>curtis</author><text>We haven&amp;#x27;t had the draft since 1973.  What&amp;#x27;s in question is &lt;i&gt;registration for the draft&lt;/i&gt; in case we ever decide we should need it again.  I think this is largely a moot point, since we&amp;#x27;re well into the information age, and identifying all American citizens of a draftable age is likely pretty easy whether they are registered or not.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lsiebert</author><text>I understand there may be a need for compelled labor by the government, in a time of war or national emergency.&lt;p&gt;Am I okay with it?&lt;p&gt;I think that depends on whether it&amp;#x27;s a defensive war or a real national emergency.  China invades, or yellow stone&amp;#x27;s super volcano erupts, yeah, those are legitimate reasons to force humans to cooperate, because survival is at stake.  Vietnam type situations, or the Border Wall thing... I&amp;#x27;d be protesting a draft.&lt;p&gt;U.S. law and supreme court precedent both say that a draft is not slavery, but I understand your opinion, or definition of slavery, may differ.&lt;p&gt;I also believe quarantine laws for infectious people are valid, that police should be able to arrest violent criminals, etc.  Basically, I believe if your actions or failure to act endangers the health and well-being of others, then the government has a legitimate interest in compelling or restricting behavior.&lt;p&gt;Most people would consider providing for the national defense and preserving the lives of citizens to be part of what a government does.</text></comment>
<story><title>Drafting Only Men for the Military Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/us/military-draft-men-unconstitutional.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Pristina</author><text>Do you think slavery is fine then? If compelled labour in the military is permissible by you because people have &amp;#x27;obligations&amp;#x27; to the government? What is a government except as an entity to ensure people&amp;#x27;s natural rights are not infringed. And we are somehow obligated to be slaves to this entity?</text></item><item><author>lsiebert</author><text>If you mean unpaid labor, then that&amp;#x27;s not how drafts work, but I&amp;#x27;ll assume you mean forced labor.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve seen the same argument used regarding taxation.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d argue that people have duties and obligations to their government, just as a government has duties and obligations to it&amp;#x27;s citizens.&lt;p&gt;So I absolutely believe that the government has a right draft people to defend the country.  Drafting people just to wage war to advance our interests I have a lot more qualms about.</text></item><item><author>henvic</author><text>There is no legitimate reason to draft anyone.&lt;p&gt;People aren&amp;#x27;t your slave. It doesn&amp;#x27;t matter that there might bad consequences if there is something &amp;#x27;to be done&amp;#x27;.&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t respect human beings as individuals in the first place, we already lost.</text></item><item><author>lsiebert</author><text>I suppose the draft doesn&amp;#x27;t necessarily have to be for military service for a war with other countries.&lt;p&gt;For example, if we learned that something large was on a collision course for the earth, we might have years to prepare to deflect it, or to build shelters, or something along those lines, but I can absolutely see a mobilization being necessary.&lt;p&gt;Of course, there&amp;#x27;s no legitimate reason why we&amp;#x27;d mobilize men and not women.</text></item><item><author>curtis</author><text>We haven&amp;#x27;t had the draft since 1973.  What&amp;#x27;s in question is &lt;i&gt;registration for the draft&lt;/i&gt; in case we ever decide we should need it again.  I think this is largely a moot point, since we&amp;#x27;re well into the information age, and identifying all American citizens of a draftable age is likely pretty easy whether they are registered or not.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>PhasmaFelis</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;What is a government except as an entity to ensure people&amp;#x27;s natural rights are not infringed.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If the nation is under existential threat by a tyrannical invader and there aren&amp;#x27;t enough volunteers for an effective defense, should the government stand by and allow everyone&amp;#x27;s freedom to be lost permanently?</text></comment>