The fears of college students should include whether they can find jobs after graduation – not whether they will be drafted after the election.

Internet rumors would have you believe President George W. Bush has plans to reinstate the military draft if he gets re-elected. Regardless of whether these rumors were started by Democrats as a campaign strategy or if they hold some truth to our president’s plans, the rumors raise a more important question: Should the draft be reinstated?

According to the Chicago Tribune, neither party is supporting the draft – and that’s the way it should be. Young people should not be forced into military service to fight for their country in this war – or any other future war – if it’s something they don’t believe in.

Fighting for your country should be a voluntary measure, and those who choose to do so will be greatly respected and honored. But joining the military should be a personal decision, not something the United States mandates.

No matter what your politics are, it seems almost everyone is against reinstating the military draft. A Newsweek poll published this week found that of the 1,013 registered voters surveyed, only 7 percent were in favor of reinstating the draft. This number is down from a poll taken before the invasion of Iraq in which 14 percent of those surveyed said they supported it.

The war already has cost enough of our brave soldiers’ lives. As of Tuesday, 1,061 members of the U.S military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. These men and women made the decision to fight in this war and prepared themselves for the possibility.

But those who don’t want to fight in the war shouldn’t have to face the possibility of death, and the government shouldn’t force them to.

It is bad enough that our soldiers have to be away fighting a war that our country is so split over, but to force the rest of our young men overseas is unthinkable.