The Laurie Rice story was the better of the two, but thanks for both.

It is important to start with principles, rather than debating secondary consequences. However, the principles are what cause those devilish details. One of them that I offer here is that the modern draft is not equal for all. Exceptions have always existed.

During Viet Nam, the common deferment was 2-S: student in college. But you could get out of the draft by working in an "essential industry." Having dependents placed you less likely that being single and alone. I remember that in the 1950s, professional baseball players would be drafted to serve six months of active duty in the off-season months, and then be in the reserves. So, "social capital" counted. Draft boards were local not federal, and favorite sons could get deferred or be 1-A and never be called. President Clinton was not drafted because he was a Rhodes Scholar. President Bush, Jr. served briefly in the Texas Air National Guard.

"When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for and received five draft deferments. In 1989, The Washington Post writer George C. Wilson interviewed Cheney as the next Secretary of Defense; when asked about his deferments, Cheney reportedly said, "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service".[23] Cheney testified during his confirmation hearings in 1989 that he received deferments to finish a college career that lasted six years rather than four, owing to sub-par academic performance and the need to work to pay for his education. Initially, Cheney was not drafted due to his marriage to Lynne Cheney.[24] When the draft was expanded to include married men without children, he applied for four deferments in sequence. He applied for his fifth exemption on January 19, 1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant. He was granted 3-A status, the "hardship" exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. In January 1967, Cheney turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the draft.[25]" --- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Ch...

Draft Dodger Rag -- Written by Phil Ochs
Oh, I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town
I believe in God and Senator Dodd and a-keepin' old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve I knew "better dead than red"
But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said:
CHORUS
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat, and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear, and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant

(19-year olds went before 18-year olds so as not to draft kids while in high school. In fact, in the 12th grade, two 19-year olds were drafted out of my homeroom.)

My sense is that reinstituting the draft is not exceedingly unlikely. I sincerely hope you're assessment is correct, not mine.

Well I agree with the writer that the draft is involuntary servitude and thus slavery and should be abolished. I also think that draft registration is doubly wrong, first because it is preparation for slavery, second because in the exceedingly unlikely scenario where we reinstitute the draft, the data would be so limited and out of date that we'd have to start all over again with the real rules.

Nevertheless, I do think that IF you require men to register you should require women to register. That makes me "misguided" in the writer's language but if you are evaluating an IF THEN you must accept the premise for the purpose of the argument. IF there is registration THEN it should be across the board.

And, as a practical matter, that would probably generate support for completely ending the farce.