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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 49
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Statement Introducing Repeal Of Selective Service
18 May 2005
HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
2005 Ron Paul 49:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am today introducing legislation to repeal the Selective Service
Act and related parts of the United States
Code. The Department of Defense, in response
to calls to reinstate the draft, has confirmed
that conscription serves no military
need.
2005 Ron Paul 49:2
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is on record citing the “notable disadvantages”
of a military draft, adding, “. . . there is not a
draft. . . . There will not be a draft.”
2005 Ron Paul 49:3
This is only the most recent confirmation that the draft, and thus the Selective Service
system, serves no military purpose.
2005 Ron Paul 49:4
Obviously, if there is no military need for the draft, then there is no need for Selective Service
registration. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, Selective
Service registration is an outdated and
outmoded system, which has been made obsolete
by technological advances.
2005 Ron Paul 49:5
In fact, in 1993, the Department of Defense issued a report stating that registration could
be stopped “with no effect on military mobilization
and no measurable effect on the time it
would take to mobilize, and no measurable effect
on military recruitment.” Yet the American
taxpayer has been forced to spend over $500
million dollars on an outdated system “with no
measurable effect on military mobilization!”
2005 Ron Paul 49:6
Shutting down Selective Service will give taxpayers a break without adversely affecting
military efforts. Shutting down Selective Service
will also end a program that violates the
very principals of individual liberty our nation
was founded upon. The moral case against
the draft was eloquently expressed by former
President Ronald Regan in the publication
Human Events in 1979: “. . . it [conscription]
rests on the assumption that your kids belong
to the state. If we buy that assumption then it
is for the state — not for parents, the community,
the religious institutions or teachers — to
decide who shall have what values and who
shall do what work, when, where and how in
our society. That assumption isn’t a new one.
The Nazis thought it was a great idea.”
2005 Ron Paul 49:7
I hope all my colleagues join me in working to shut down this un-American relic of a bygone
era and help realize the financial savings
and the gains to individual liberties that can be
achieved by ending Selective Service registration.
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