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Milton Friedman on The draft and the volunteer army

Universal national service is an idea of long standing. Indeed, the most persuasive case for it that I know is contained in a book published in 1887, “Looking Backward,” by Edward Bellamy, which sold in the millions and sparked a widespread national movement.
Universal National Service
Column, 1979, Newsweek (1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, May 15, 1979, p. 11349, introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who says Friedman “recently” made these arguments “in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date and omits part of the opening paragraph, Congressional Record, May 15, 1979, p. 11349
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  1. It sounds fine. But it so happens that I read Bellamy during the 1930s. What struck me most forcibly about his “industrial army” was its uncanny resemblance to the Hitler Jugend—battalions of happy blue-eyed Aryans marching off with shovels on their shoulders singing “Deutschland über alles.”
    Universal National Service
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, May 15, 1979, p. 11349, introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who says Friedman “recently” made these arguments “in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date and omits part of the opening paragraph, Congressional Record, May 15, 1979, p. 11349
    Checked against the sourceRead the original
  2. No. However appealing at first sight, universal national service is a monstrosity utterly inconsistent with a free society. It should be shunned like the plague it is.
    Universal National Service
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, May 15, 1979, p. 11349, introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who says Friedman “recently” made these arguments “in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date and omits part of the opening paragraph, Congressional Record, May 15, 1979, p. 11349
    Checked against the sourceRead the original
  3. The well-meaning current sponsors of universal national service will recoil at that prospect. They would insist on letting the youngsters choose for themselves how they serve. That is what happens now, via the market system, in which market wages equate supply and demand. But universal national service is meaningless unless it involves equal pay—which also means control and direction of labor.
    Universal National Service
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, May 15, 1979, p. 11349, introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who says Friedman “recently” made these arguments “in Newsweek.” The reprint gives no issue date and omits part of the opening paragraph, Congressional Record, May 15, 1979, p. 11349
    Checked against the sourceRead the original

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