Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.
(Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by party; black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria.)
Chuck Baldwin, Founder and Minister of the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Mary Starrett, in an Aug. 11, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"Conscription deprives a person of liberty without due process of law. This is clearly prohibited by the 5th amendment. Conscription is an involuntary taking of a person's labor - which is a form of property - without just compensation as provided by the eminent domain provisions of the 5th amendment. I oppose imposition of the draft, the registration law, compulsory military training or any other form of compulsory government service." Aug. 11, 2008 Chuck Baldwin
Bob Barr, former US House Representative (R-GA), in a Nov. 1, 2004 article titled "Caught Up in the Draft" on www.newsbull.com, stated:
"The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against legislation to reinstate the use of the draft to fill its military ranks. The vote was, of course, nothing more than an interesting bit of political maneuvering, orchestrated to embarrass a handful of liberal Democrats who were making off-the-wall political statements that Bush had a 'secret plan' to reinstitute the draft.
The bill never should have been taken seriously; the possibility of reinstating the military draft, as a necessary response to problems in filling the ranks of our armed forces, should be." Nov. 1, 2004 Bob Barr
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated in a July 13, 2007 speech titled "Senator McCain Addresses the Concord Chamber of Commerce on Defeating Our Enemies" on his official candidate website:
"I am glad to see that troop increases are in the pipeline but current plans are not enough. As president, I would bring the army and Marines from the currently planned level of roughly 750,000 to 900,000. This will cost real money, some $15 billion annually, but it will not require a draft any more than similar levels did in the 1980s. It is vitally important for the next president to issue a call to service, to summon the young men and women of America to defend their country and its noble ideals. I am confident that this generation will answer the summons just as so many of us did in previous generations." July 13, 2007 John McCain
Cynthia McKinney, former US House Representative (D-GA), according to the Library of Congress: THOMAS website, on Mar. 20, 2002 cosponsored "H.Con.Res.368":
"Expresses the sense of Congress that reinstating the military draft or implementing any other form of compulsory military service in the United States would be detrimental to US long-term interests, violative of individual liberties protected by the Constitution, and inconsistent with the values underlying a free society as expressed in the Declaration of Independence."
Mar. 20, 2002 Cynthia McKinney
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), at the July 23, 2007 CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate held in Charleston, SC, stated:
"[Anderson] Cooper: Senator Obama, should women register for Selective Service?
[Barack] Obama: ...I think that if women are registered for service -- not necessarily in combat roles, and I don't agree with the draft -- I think it will help to send a message to my two daughters that they've got obligations to this great country as well as boys do." July 23, 2007 Barack Obama
INACTIVE CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear
below in black and white and in alphabetical order by party.)
Hillary Clinton, US Senator (D-NY), at the July 23, 2007 CNN/YouTube Democratic Presidential Debate held in Charleston, SC, stated:
"[Anderson] Cooper: Senator Clinton, do you think women should register for Selective Service?
[Hillary] Clinton: I do. I don't support a draft. I think our all-volunteer military has performed superbly. But we've had women die in Iraq. We've had combat deaths of women in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I do think that women should register. I doubt very much that we'll ever have to go back to a draft. But I think it is fair to call upon every young American."
July 23, 2007 Hillary Clinton
John Edwards, former US Senator (D-NC), stated in an Aug. 11, 2007 article titled "Edwards Blasts Bush Administration On Draft Comments" on his official candidate website:
"Let there be no doubt that the Bush Administration's new talk of a draft is a profound measure of how much this President has failed our brave men and women in the military, and the American people. This is exactly the wrong way to go. Our all-volunteer force has helped make America what it is today.
I call on all Members of Congress - Republican, Democrat, and Independent - to speak with one voice, and say 'no' to a draft."
Aug. 11, 2007 John Edwards
No position found as of Jan. 8, 2008. ProCon.org also emailed the Giuliani campaign on Oct. 13, 2007 with this question. They did not respond to our email or follow up call.
Mike Gravel, former US Senator (D-AK), offered the following in an article titled "Mike Gravel and the Draft" on his official candidate campaign website (accessed Jan. 10, 2008):
"In 1971, Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), by waging a lone five month filibuster, singlehandedly ended the draft in The United States thereby saving thousands of lives. As a result, aside from those who volunteered, everyone under the age of 54 has been able to stay out of harm's way in the tragic war against Vietnam, the first war against Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and Bush's current war in Iraq. In addition, the children of everyone under the age of 54 have been able to stay out of harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan?
In short, Senator Gravel's opposition to the draft is based on his desire to insure that no American man or woman is sent to a distant land to fight unnecessary and ill-advised pre-emptive wars of choice by reckless, ignorant, warmongering leaders."
Jan. 10, 2008 Mike Gravel
Duncan Hunter, US Representative (R-CA), in an Oct. 5, 2004 article titled "Statement of Chairman Duncan Hunter on the Rejection of the Democrat Sponsored Military Draft Bill" on GlobalSecurity.org, stated:
"This overwhelming defeat will hopefully stifle those who seek to spread deliberately false information of an impending draft. We simply do not need a draft. The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines are meeting their recruitment goals and are still attracting and retaining the people we need to fill all ranks. Our military today is highly qualified because it is comprised of an all volunteer force." Oct. 5, 2004 Duncan Hunter
ProCon.org emailed the Imperato campaign on Feb. 22, 2008 with this question. Mr. Imperato provided a response to this question and 26 others during a recorded 45-minute telephone interview with ProCon.org on Mar. 11, 2008. On Mar. 21, 2008 Mr. Imperato no longer met our eligibility criteria for inclusion on this site, and we stopped transcribing his verbal responses as of that date.
Alan Keyes, former Assistant US Secretary of State, stated in a Jan. 19, 2000 article titled "Alan Keyes on C-SPAN's Washington Journal" on the Alan Keyes Archives website:
"I have championed for a long time the view that instead of moving, as we did back during the Nixon era, into a voluntary kind of military service. I thought that was the wrong way around. I think that national service is an obligation of citizenship in a republic...
...I think part of...education ought to be universal national service. And I think that it would consist of having everybody, after they have finished high school, know that they were going to face two years--and regardless, by the way, of their status in other ways. Wealth wouldn't stand in the way. Nothing would stand in the way. And you would have to serve those two years. You would go through a first period of basic training, in which everybody would get the basic training that is given to people who are going into military life, and then I would offer people a range of options, including service in the various branches of the military, which would then be available to them to fulfill their two years of national service."
Jan. 19, 2000 Alan Keyes
Steve Kubby, a Libertarian candidate and founder of the American Medical Marijuana Association, stated in a Jan. 10, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"Under no circumstances will I ever support conscription. Not only is it unconstitutional -- the 13th Amendment clearly forbids involuntary servitude -- but it's wrong and it's stupid.
America has never lacked for defenders when it came under attack, nor has it lacked volunteers in time of piece to DETER attack. If a politician starts talking about conscription, then he's almost certainly contemplating a non-defensive war and a war which few Americans would find worthy of support. A nation which has to draft its young men and women has obviously picked the wrong fight to put them in, and no government which considers the draft a legitimate policy is worthy of the loyalty of those whom it presumes to enslave." Jan. 10, 2008 Steve Kubby
Dennis Kucinich, US Representative (D-OH), stated in an article titled "The Draft" on his US House of Representatives website (accessed Jan. 10, 2008):
"There are bills sponsored by both parties in Congress to create a draft. In 2004 the selective service system put up on their website a call for people to staff local draft boards. There was a commotion about it immediately after that went up; they took it down. There's a substantial amount of money in the budget to be able to put into effect the structure to create a draft...
It's time for this nation, Democrats and Republicans alike, to come together and oppose all efforts to reinstate the draft. For the sake of our children and our future, we must end this wrongful war." Jan. 10, 2008 Dennis Kucinich
Frank McEnulty, an Independent candidate and President of Our Castle Homes, in a Dec. 20, 2007 email to ProCon.org, stated:
"No, it is not necessary at this time. The only time I believe a draft would be necessary would be in the case of a large scale, world war type of conflict." Dec. 20, 2007 Frank McEnulty
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), offered the following in an article titled "Spread the Word" on his official campaign website (accessed Jan. 9, 2008):
"Ron Paul does not support a military draft, and strongly opposes going to war with Iran."
Jan. 9, 2008 Ron Paul
No position found as of Jan. 9, 2008. ProCon.org also emailed the Richardson campaign on Dec. 13, 2007 with this question. They did not respond to our email.
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, stated in a Sep. 14, 2005 speech titled "Homeland Security: Status of Federal, State and Local Efforts" given at the Heritage Foundation:
"I do not believe in the draft. That's totally unnecessary." Sep. 14, 2005 Mitt Romney
No position found as of Jan. 11, 2008. ProCon.org also emailed the Thompson campaign on Dec. 13, 2007 with this question. They did not respond to our email.