Who wants to burn a draft card?

Rep. John "Porkmeister" Murtha has made something of a name for himself over the past couple of years for something more than merely soaking the taxpayers; he's established himself as a critic of the Iraq War with the military cred to back up his opinions. Now he's found a way to combine his two callings into one neato package by agitating for a revival of the military draft.

Calling for a return to conscription, Murtha told CNN host Wolf Blitzer, "I think it's absolutely needed."

He elaborated to the Associated Press, "A draft is the fairest way -- if we're going to fight a war -- to fight it, because everybody has responsibility. Everybody should share in this responsibility. Everybody should have the chance to serve."

Actually, Murtha's support for a military draft isn't knew -- he was one of only two legislators to vote for Charlie Rangel's conscription bill. But Murtha is now chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which puts him in a position to influence policy -- not just tweak the majority as he did as a member of the opposition. That suggests that he's serious about resorting to slavery to fill boots and uniforms.

The argument most often voiced by people like Murtha and Rangel in defense of conscription is that it's somehow "fairer" to "share the burden" of military service across society -- not just among those who choose to sign enlistment papers. The subtext to the argument is that widespread conscription will somehow make it harder to engage in foreign adventures; people will flood the streets to protest against unpopular wars, preventing political leaders from sending troops hither and yon.

But "fairness" seems an odd description to apply to involuntary servitude. How is it fair to force people to risk their lives for causes they don't choose -- or else to suffer imprisonment and criminal records? Simply put, conscription is slavery. There's nothing "fair" about it.

And the odd concept that handing politicians a ready supply of cannon fodder will somehow inhibit their hawkish fantasies flies in the face of historical experience. In the realm of less-than-popular conflicts, both the Korean and Vietnamese wars were fought with conscript armies. People may get nostalgic over the anti-war protests that accompanied the latter struggle, but our troops were still there for a decade.

Doesn't it make more sense to assume that unpopular wars will reduce the ranks of voluntary enlistees, more effectively curtailing such conflicts than the ticked-off friends and neighbors of draftees ever could?

Unfortunately, with John Murtha now wielding real power, we have a better chance than ever of testing the worth of competing theories of military recruitment.