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Milton Friedman on The draft and the volunteer army

The difficulties are real. But they are far from insuperable. They offer a challenge to the men who run the armed forces, not a reason for rejecting a policy that offers so many advantages.
No Draftees to Vietnam
Column, 1968, Newsweek (December 30, 1968); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, January 16, 1969, pp. 1161 to 1162, introduced by Representative Henry B. Gonzalez as “Mr. Friedman’s column, from the December 30, 1968, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, January 16, 1969, p. 1162
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  1. I then attributed the divergence of promise from performance to misunderstanding. The men who run the Fed, I wrote, have “taken the behavior of interest rates rather than the quantity of money as their guide—and this mistake has led them far astray from their intended path.”
    The Inflationary Fed
    Column, 1973, Newsweek, August 27, 1973; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 7, 1973, p. 36327, introduced by Representative Robert Huber of Michigan as “Mr. Milton Friedman’s article that appeared in Newsweek of August 27, 1973”, Congressional Record, November 7, 1973, p. 36327
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  2. There is a real danger, but it arises from a strong armed force not from the method of recruiting enlisted men. Napoleon and Franco both rose to power at the head of a conscript army. However we recruit, the essential need is to maintain close links between the officer corps and the body politic.
    A Volunteer Army
    Column, 1966, Newsweek (December 19, 1966); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Senate, January 22, 1969, p. 1438, under the heading “From Newsweek magazine, Dec. 19, 1966”. Later collected in An Economist’s Protest (1972)., Congressional Record, January 22, 1969, p. 1438
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  3. Whatever the extra amount, we are now paying a larger sum in concealed form. Conscription is a tax in kind—forced labor exacted from the men who serve involuntarily. The amount of the tax is the difference between the sum for which they would voluntarily serve and the sum we now pay them—if Joe Namath were drafted, his tax might well run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
    A Volunteer Army
    Column, 1966, Newsweek (December 19, 1966); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Senate, January 22, 1969, p. 1438, under the heading “From Newsweek magazine, Dec. 19, 1966”. Later collected in An Economist’s Protest (1972)., Congressional Record, January 22, 1969, p. 1438
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