A step back from a draft.

On October 5, House Republicans called a vote on a measure sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that would have re-instituted conscription. The bill was defeated by a vote of 4022. (Rep. Rangel was among those voting against the measure.) Bewailing "all the conspiracy talk and the e-mails flying all over this country" suggesting that the military draft would be restored next year, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) insisted that the vote would "put a nail in that coffin." He added, "This campaign--which started as a whisper but has since been given voice by the leading Democrats in the country today--asserts without any evidence whatsoever that there is a secret Republican plan to reinstitute the military draft."

Rep. DeLay is shading the truth for partisan reasons. Concerns about reinstituting the draft have not been limited to Democrats. Those concerns are rooted in observable manpower realities and existing proposals, not paranoid fantasies about "secret plans." And key Republican leaders are found among prominent supporters of a return to conscription.

"While Bush has no plans to reinstate a draft, he could be forced into it by events," noted Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter. "If we need, God forbid, to occupy another country that truly threatens the United States, we will either do it with the help of our allies or with the conscription of our kids."

Prominent Republicans who favor a return to the draft include Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a likely 2008 presidential contender, and Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who insists that there are "huge social benefits" to conscription.

Republican Congressmen Nick Smith of Michigan and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania have co-sponsored the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which would require all males age 18 to 22 to perform national service in either the military or in a domestic "homeland security" function. Yet both congressmen voted against Rep. Rangel's bill to reinstate the draft, demonstrating that the lopsided 402-2 vote does not provide a reliable measure of where congressmen really stand on the issue.

Instead, the October 5 vote was an exercise in political spin control. Moreover, it reflects the tact that the House of Representatives remains sensitive to organized expressions of public concern.