Don't draft women, abolish the draft for men

A bipartisan House bill, sponsored by two Colorado congressmen, Reps. Mike Coffman, R, and Jared Polis, D, would abolish mandatory Selective Service registration. They want to keep the military permanently as an all-volunteer force, as it has been in practice since 1973.

Coffman notes that conscription “outlived its usefulness a long time ago.” And yes, the system is obsolete. No one has ever been prosecuted for failing to register, and how many young men do you know who actually follow the law and inform the Selective Service every time they change their address before age 25? (Did you know that it’s a felony if you don’t?)

There are also strong moral and military arguments for an all-volunteer force. The U.S. military is as strong and effective as it is because it is a professional, all-volunteer fighting force. Even though the Selective Service registration system has not been used to draft anyone since President Carter reinstated it in 1980, the military still managed to deploy 2.5 million military men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001-13.