HUNTER: Military draft could scare young criminals straight
· Toronto Sun
For young criminals in this country, there really isn’t a lot to lose.
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Older gangbangers love the kids. Like 21st century Fagins, they recruit the kids and then have them do their dirty work. Tasks like taking some rogue dope dealer off the board. Or maybe a hit for hire.
Even when they get busted — and they always do — the consequences for even the most heinous crimes are laughable. A couple years in kiddie jail, softly, softly, and back on the streets a hero.
Something called consequences
That is until someone punches their ticket.
“These kids, these bad seeds, they need structure and sad to say, but maybe three strikes and it’s two years in the military,” my left-wing friend said over a Sunday afternoon beer at the famed Duke on Queen St. E.
What he’s suggesting is something we once called consequences.
A beloved uncle was nabbed stealing cars in Niagara decades ago. A judge gave him the choice: Two years in juvie or … “you can serve your country.” Within a year he was fighting in the hills of Korea but he survived and became an extremely successful career soldier.
Canada last had conscription during the tail end of the Second World War when manpower had been depleted by five years of horrendous fighting. For the United States, the trials and tribulations of the military draft are far more recent, ending in 1973 with the bitter conclusion of the Vietnam War.
Now, the U.S. has announced a plan to automatically register eligible men for the military draft beginning in December, according to a proposed rule published last week.
No draft plan – yet
According to the New York Post, the Selective Service System (SSS), maintains the database of draft-eligible Americans, and it submitted the “automatic registration” rule change to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30.
Most males between 18 and 25 years old are already required to register with the Selective Service System in case a military draft is authorized. Failing to register is a felony. A fine of up to $250,000 and five years in the slammer is the punishment for not registering.
In addition, non-registrants could be denied government jobs, student loans and U.S. citizenship if they’re immigrants. The Trump administration has said a military draft is “not part of the current plan.” But things change.
During U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the big draft years (1965-1973), the issue tore the country apart. On one hand, the patriotic working class in Rust Belt enclaves signed up to do their duty or were drafted. The result was sobbing moms from Peoria to Pittsburgh.
The upper middle class and wealthy — like U.S. President Donald Trump — skipped the fight. Using a roster of college deferrments, high-priced shrinks and bogus medical reports (bone spurs), they let the working class and poor do the fighting.
By 1969, newly-minted U.S. President Richard Nixon’s “silent majority” were screaming at the unfairness of it all. As a result, the draft lottery was introduced. It worked like bingo: 366 balls in a spinner, each one a different day of the year. The higher your birthday number is called, the more likely you were going to Vietnam.
When the rich fight, the war ends
When the boys of the wealthy and powerful start getting called upon to fight in a pointless, far away war …. well, the war ends pretty quickly.
Now, if Canada’s Junior Al Capones were forced into military service, that would be a consequence. As a bonus they’d get to do cool stuff like shooting machine guns and throwing grenades.
They might also learn some life skills, discipline and structure and halt their downward trafectory to prison or the morgue.
The faculty lounge would freak.
@HunterTOSun