Why did the Dems REMOVE this Requirement from the FAFSA College form?

Your insights appreciated! Leave a comment below

So, here's a question a Quaker friend who is a conscienscious objector to participation in war in any form (CO) brought to my attention recently:

The 2024 revised FAFSA (college aid consolidated form all US college entrants fill out) no longer asks "if required, have you registered for the Selective Service" (all young men 18 or over are reguired to register, for call up in future draft). This has been a requirement since the 1970's but is now being removed from the federal college aid questions.

My question is WHY? Especially with the Democrats controlling education and also beating the war drums, and the military recruitment at the lowest levels in memory....

Answering “no” to this question used to put your entire college aid package at risk (which for a majority of Americans who can not afford $120,000 bill for a 4-year US State University means your kid doesn’t get a university education or degree)

So what do YOU think?

Why did the Dems remove the selective service registration (draft) question/requirement from their national education funding form?

Incidentally, I very much respect my Quaker friends deeply held views against participation in armed conflict in any form. For him, this includes being an unarmed battlefield medic, so he would serve as a teacher, conservation office, or other public service role should there be a future US military draft.

Here’s a useful resource he passed on for those grappling with questions of killing for country, killing because “we’re all in this together” or taking human life to directly protect loved ones:

more:

https://www.centeronconscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/shouldiregister.pdf

Conscientious objection has an established legal history in the US which was in part founded by folks fleeing religious persecution (often for pacifist beliefs like the Hutterites, Amish, Hugenots and others) and forced conscription in other countries.

It is important to note that under current US law, conscientious objectors cannot pick and choose conflicts based on the justness of cause or whatever racketeers or political muckrakers are driving the charge to war. A CO must be “conscientiously opposed to war in any form” by definition.

Incidentally, I learned from my friend that if your beliefs, (which do not have to be associated with any organized religion or church) prevent you from killing other human beings, you need to write “I am conscientiously opposed to war in any form” on your registration form when you register at age 18, and keep a copy in a permanent file. There is no objecting to certain wars and not others as this does not confer CO status under current US law. CO status would allow alternative service for the (normally 24 month) period a soldier would serve, which could involve teaching children, planting forests, disaster relief, and many other tasks that would not involve taking human life.

As a direct descendent of hardworking folks willing to die for their pacifist stance, it was interesting to revisit this topic in light of the insane neocon warmongering and proxy conflicts like Ukraine, clearly cooked up and engineered to serve elite causes rather than “we the people”.

More:

“The Hutterites are a German-speaking religious group. Their branch of Christianity began in Europe around the 1500s. From the start, the Hutterites had an unusual way of living. They wore only plain clothes. And they lived in large groups off by themselves. They also did not believe in private property. Instead, they shared everything. And the Hutterites were pacifists—they refused to take up arms during wartime.

For 300 years, Hutterites faced hatred and bigotry in Europe. That is because some other people disliked their beliefs. In the 1870s, several Hutterite groups came to the United States. Like many immigrants coming at that time, the Hutterites sought religious freedom. Many of them settled in South Dakota and Montana. The Hutterites found the freedom they wanted. But they still faced hatred from people who found them strange.

Even so, the Hutterites did well until 1914, when war began in Europe. The United States joined World War I against Germany in 1917. Many Americans back home disliked anything German. They became angry at the Hutterites because they spoke German among themselves. Also, Hutterite young men refused to become U.S. soldiers. They did not believe in fighting. Many people believed that Hutterites favored Germany over the United States in the war.

Some people who lived near the Hutterites began to harass them. They stole from Hutterite herds. They vandalized Hutterite farms. Some towns passed new laws aimed at the Hutterites. These laws forbade people to speak German on the telephone or at school. Military service became mandatory for all young men who were physically fit. Since service was required, Hutterites sent their young men to military training camps. But Hutterite men held tightly to their pacifist beliefs. They refused to obey military orders or wear uniforms.

Some people believed that the Hutterites were cowards, not pacifists. As a result, soldiers treated the Hutterite men terribly. They were dragged by their hair. They were beaten. They were chased by motorcycles until they dropped from being so tired. A few Hutterite men were sent to prison for not obeying military orders. Two of them died because they were so badly treated.

The state of South Dakota also harassed the Hutterites. A special committee declared that they were “un-American.” It said that the Hutterite settlements, or “colonies,” should be banned. This forced the Hutterites to move. Most Hutterites left South Dakota and settled in Canada. Tensions did not ease until after the war. Years later, Hutterites once again set up new colonies in South Dakota.

Today, most Hutterites live in western Canada and the northern United States. Many outsiders still find Hutterite ways strange. Growing up Hutterite means that you have few personal possessions and little privacy. Everyone lives together and works hard. Yet all Hutterites are taken care of and made to feel like they belong. That lifestyle clearly appeals to many Hutterite young people. The Hutterites do not encourage outsiders to join. Even so, their numbers continue to grow. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/texts/a-war-on-the-peaceful

Here’s an excellent Quaker resource to help young men turning 18, and others, to explore their beliefs about acceptable violence, “just war theory”, and conflict resolution in light of future conflicts and potentially taking a stand to explain yourself in front of a local, state or national draft board.

https://centeronconscience.org/conscientious-objection-citizenship-oath/

bonus research material (clearly, these “draft dodgers” were no sissies but informed by deeply held beliefs):

New book tells story of Hutterite conscientious objectors persecuted and tortured to death in US during World War I

Nearly a century later, the story of four Hutterite pacifists imprisoned for their beliefs during World War I is told in detail in a new book titled “Pacifists in Chains: The Persecution of Hutterites During the Great War” (The Johns Hopkins University Press, Nov. 2013). The book is written by Duane C. S. Stoltzfus, professor of communication at Goshen College.

Stoltzfus explores the tension between a country preparing to enter into a world war and a people whose history of martyrdom for their pacifist beliefs goes back to their 16th-century Reformation beginnings. The book chronicles the experience of four Hutterite men who were conscientious objectors, starting in the spring of 1918 when they were drafted, and ending after their year of imprisonment, during which time two of the men died. Throughout the book Stoltzfus sheds light on their story, including the history of the Hutterites, their struggle to escape persecution in Russia and their new beginning in the American West.

When Stoltzfus first encountered the story of the Hofer brothers, Joseph, Michael and David, and their brother-in-law, Jacob Wipf, he knew that it was a story worth telling.

“In the early going in my research, I discovered that their story had been shared only in brief,” Stoltzfus said. “A key moment came when I was able to make contact with family members of one of the three brothers, on a Hutterite colony in Montana.” https://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/12/03/new-book-tells-story-of-hutterite-conscientious-objectors-persecuted-during-world-war-i/