I didn't realize Congressman Charles Rangel was planning on trying to reinstate the draft again, until I was asked about it today during my interview with Faith Salie on her new PRI program called Fair Game with Faith Salie. Looks like a great new radio news show for the 'hip' crowd, who enjoy a little humor with their news. I had a great time talking to Faith, a very funny and smart host, as we reviewed Rangel's latest proposal, discussed the new 'surge' for Iraq, and talked about my experiences working with politicians in Baghdad.
You can listen to the show at the link above or here. (My interview is about half-way through.)
For the record, I believe Mr. Rangel's desire to see more people in government service is laudible, but coercing people into the military based on the assumption that that will somehow force Congress to be more deliberative in their votes on matters of war doesn't convince me. My suggestion: if Rangel is serious about getting people into government service, and making Congress look more like the America that makes up the U.S. Army - then we should just draft people into Congress and cut out all the intermediate steps. Maybe the problem is not that we don't have enough rich people in the army, it's that we don't have enough poor people in Congress...
