THE DRAFT. Matt Zeitlin's brief against re-instituting a draft is a good one. It's actually fairly common to hear progressives -- of non-draft age, naturally -- argue that we need a draft because having one would render future wars less likely. Well, maybe. But it seems like supporting a draft based on extrapolations from a political thought experiment might not be the world's best idea. Politicians easily instituted a draft during the Vietnam War, for instance, and public opinion didn't end the war for nearly a decade -- and this was after 58,000 American deaths, not 4,000. Meanwhile, Israel, which also has a draft, doesn't exactly seem reticent of engaging in foreign conflicts. Part of what happens when you have a national military is you glorify its capabilities and uses. This makes it easier, rather than harder, to start wars. And once a war has begun, it's quite a bit harder to stop. --Ezra Klein
