Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced Monday that he plans to honor the life and legacy of boxer Muhammad Ali the only way a libertarian-leaning Republican can: by proposing a bill to end the draft.
Paul will be introducing legislation to end the Selective Service program that replaced the military draft, according to The Washington Post.
“One of the things I liked about Muhammad Ali is that he would stand on principle even when it was unpopular,” Paul told reporters. “Selective service, you know — like, the criminal justice system I say now has a racial justice disparity? Selective service had a racial disparity because a lot of rich white kids either got a deferment or went to college or got out of the draft. So I’m opposed to Selective Service.”
When Ali was 25, he refused to go fight in the war in Vietnam by becoming a “conscientious objector,” but it cost him his sports career during his peak fighting years.
Paul said that if America was truly under threat of a foreign enemy, as was the case during World War II, young Americans would join on their own.
