So the "poverty draft"...

...is just another lie. Which ought not to be a surprise: Lefties don't check the numbers. They just make stuff up that "sounds right".

UPDATE 10/3/2005: It's irrelevant anyway. The logic behind the "poverty draft" talking point is that if military service is not the worst imaginable option for somebody to choose, than he is being "coerced" into choosing the military. It follows that if the military were made less appealing — for example, if there were no veterans' benefits — that it wouldn't be coercive any more. The implication seems to be that the lefties in question would call that an improvement. Are these the same lefties who hyperventilate about the administration "stabbing the troops in the back" by not spending enough money on them? What do you think?

But never mind how it conflicts with other talking points; the bottom line is, it's absurd: Offering somebody more and better options is not coercion. Unless you believe that the government is solely responsible for poverty, and could cure it at any time by waving a magic wand... come to think of it, lefties generally do believe that.