Ellington

U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) spoke Wednesday at the UW about reinstating the draft during declared war or national emergency.

He described House Resolution 393 as a national service bill. He co-sponsored the bill with fellow veteran Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY). It would require all citizens 18-42 to perform national service for two years. This requirement could be fulfilled through civilian volunteer work or through military service.

Students and community members gathered in the Social Work/Speech and Hearing Sciences Building to hear McDermott speak on behalf of the bill and answer questions.

Organizers of the event took a vote of people’s opinion regarding the bill before and after McDermott spoke. The vote before the talk was 26 “yes” votes and 32 “no” votes. The vote post-discussion was 17 “yes” votes and 23 “no” votes.

McDermott said he supports the idea of having a draft because if everybody is affected by the war, everybody will begin to care.

“Where is the outrage about this war?” he said, referring to the state of the UW campus during the Vietnam conflict. He also spoke of how the lower classes of society are overrepresented in the armed services.

“We are taking one part of society and using them and using them,” he said. “We have put our military through a meat grinder by moving occupations in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. The president tells us our service in this war is to go to the mall. Spend your $600 you’re going to get back.”

McDermott said the draft would spread the burden of the war to everybody in society.

“If you look at the way this country works, most of what we’ve done has been done collectively,” he said.

We’re in danger of losing that if we don’t all participate in national service, he said.

He argued that without a draft, people would be willing to let the war continue for decades. McDermott compared John McCain’s retraction of his “100 more years in Iraq” comment to Richard Nixon’s behavior during Vietnam.

“Having a draft means everybody then cares,” he said. “If you believe in a democracy, you have to believe that the people will make the right choice.”

After McDermott left, Rachel Vaughn, associate director of the Carlson Center, and Jesse Hagopian, a middle school teacher and local anti-war activist, spoke against the bill.

“This bill that we see in front of us is not a national service bill; it’s a war service bill,” Hagopian said. “I think calling for no one to go to war instead of calling for everyone to go to war is what we should stand for.”

Students generally hadn’t heard about the bill prior to the event, but many spoke up to ask questions of McDermott and the other speakers. Brandon Quesada, a freshman who plans to major in elementary education, heard about the event because of an announcement written in chalk on a sidewalk on campus. He didn’t know anything about the bill, he said, but asked McDermott what his view on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is and how a person’s orientation might affect them during a draft.

While he got an answer — McDermott said the policy is stupid — Quesada said he felt like McDermott didn’t really answer his question.

“It felt like he was placating and using generalities to get around questions,” Quesada said.

He also said McDermott didn’t explain the full impact of the bill. “It seems like a sneaky way to reinstate the draft, not national service.”

Quesada said that, as a gay man, he feels being drafted would be especially difficult.

“People will see me, and say I’m trying to dodge the draft by saying I’m gay, but I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my values.”