> If, for example, the nazis were at risk of invading the American homeland, would you want to wait until they are here and volunteers start coming in?
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
If you cannot get enough volunteers to fight in your war then tour population early doesn't care that much about winning it.
Even if there might be some hypothetical war where for some aliens-with-mind-control type reason the populace doesn't want to fight but losing the war would be even worse, having a draft as an allowed policy is still net bad because of all the times it will be used when there isnt some existential threat!
In almost every case the draft has been used, losing the war would be far better for the people than being drafted into the war.
The relevant population for “was the draft better?” seems to be the people eligible to be drafted not those actually drafted (and, depending on the question, might be everyone who has been or could be eligible)
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
If you cannot get enough volunteers to fight in your war then tour population early doesn't care that much about winning it.
Even if there might be some hypothetical war where for some aliens-with-mind-control type reason the populace doesn't want to fight but losing the war would be even worse, having a draft as an allowed policy is still net bad because of all the times it will be used when there isnt some existential threat!
In almost every case the draft has been used, losing the war would be far better for the people than being drafted into the war.