No university deferments. Period. Even for so-called "elite" students.
And yes, the most powerful and most connected will still manage to save some of their own, but if you can drastically increase the number in the bulk of the population who could potentially see active combat, I think you'll get the
more skepticism about believing that pre-emptive miltaristic adventures constitutes defense
you asked for.
And beyond that, you spread the burden of preserving "national security" more evenly across all members of society.
We ask that the costs of healthcare -- which are overwhelmingly financial in nature -- be spread across the population. By the same logic, the costs of national security -- which are both financial AND "bodily" -- should be spread across the population. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
Vietnam went on for a decade.
What about conscietous objectors, BTW? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Conscientious objectors in the 1980's and early 1990's played a big role in the end of the draft in Spain and the transition to professional, volunteer armed forces. And there wasn't even a war on. Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
As someone who nearly became one, I am happy that Europe is increasingly abandoning the draft. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Now, how could you be "unsubmissively" anti-militaristic and also an interventionist? Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
Apatriotism another factor: intervention as international enterprise, vs. drafted army is national. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I went to university in the US. For my undergraduate degree I had to not only take subjects in my major, and related areas, but also in history, anthropology, sociology, literature, art, or rather, I had to pick several subjects from a list of humanities, arts, and social sciences. Subject that I would have never bothered with at the university level, not because I don't find them interesting, but because under a system where it would be allowed but not required I would have felt compelled to concentrate on what directly mattered to my future occupation.
(For all the terrible things I have to say about the US, I really, really like their broader undergraduate curriculum. Going to university there was quite simply great. Maybe not true for all schools??)