In opposing proposals to institute conscription, as we all should vehemently, it is important not to exaggerate how great the current system is. Libertarians will frequently praise the voluntary nature of the American military.
Well, how voluntary is it if you can't quit? Libertarians who believe in inalienability of rights must oppose the way in which the military is currently populated. Those who don't must still oppose the right of people to sign their liberty over to a criminal organization. How could a contract be valid when soldiers are promised wages taken by force?
The left even has somewhat of a point in their denunciations of the "economic draft," although, of course, their analysis is limited. The state offers money and college and goodies to the poor, many of whom are poorer than they would be if the state didn't do all it could to destroy economic opportunities with labor and business regulation. The state is able to provide such rewards because it coercively extracts resources from the population, including from sectors it targets for military recruitment. So the real economic draft is in a system that plunders the people and then offers the young some of the stolen goods back, in return for indentured servitude.
This is not to say conscription wouldn't be worse. It is a form of slavery. And the horrible leftists who defend it on the basis of fairness reveal that their egalitarianism is more important than their respect for human rights. Of course, it is also a terrible and naive strategy to slow down the war machine: The War Party will always protect its offspring from the worst consequences of its wars. The ruling class will not legislate itself into submission. The draft will never be totally egalitarian — not that it should be — if for no other reason, it targets an age demographic. And giving the war machine millions of new bodies will expand war. Vietnam ended partly because of outrage at the draft, but it was also able to get as big and atrocious as it did thanks to the draft.
