It's worth noting that as soon as the draft was shut down, the college protest movement folded like an old accordian.

One wonders how the whole Viet Nam thing would have turned out had the draft not fueled it. If the American populace in general had thought it to be a crappy war, no one would have turned up at the recruitment stations, and maybe we would have been forced to go another route.

Contrast this to the current situation, with a volunteer army, and a military action approved by most of America. Result: people lined up around the block at recruitment stations.

Freedom works, every time it's tried. We never really needed a draft to man a fighting force, maybe not even during WWII.

My own personal suspicion is that the draft is a tool of social engineering, like the tax code, designed to make sure that the upper classes get their share of military service, although:

a) I'm not sure this was ever a real issue.

b) The upper classes often figured ways to get their kids out of the draft anyway.