1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to express my absolute opposition to the recent calls by Palantir Technologies and its CEO, Alex Karp, to reinstate a mandatory military draft in the United States. The "manifesto" recently published by Palantir, which suggests that "national service should be a universal duty" and advocates for an end to the all-volunteer force, is an affront to the fundamental principles of American liberty. A private technology corporation—especially one deeply embedded in government surveillance and defense contracts—should not be dictating the terms of our personal freedom or advocating for the forced mobilization of the American citizenry. I urge you to take the following actions: • Publicly Denounce the Push for a Draft: Reject the ideologically driven calls for mandatory service coming from Silicon Valley elites who seek to profit from increased militarization. • Repeal Automatic Registration: Revisit the provisions in the FY 2026 NDAA that mandate automatic Selective Service registration. Our government should not be streamlining the path to conscription without a transparent, national debate. • Protect the All-Volunteer Force: Reaffirm the commitment to a military composed of those who choose to serve, rather than those coerced by the state. The 13th Amendment prohibits involuntary servitude, and the Supreme Court’s historical interpretations of the draft should not be used as a loophole for corporate-driven social engineering. We do not exist to serve as "human capital" for a military-industrial complex guided by AI surveillance firms. The American people are not a resource to be "automated" into a draft pool. I look forward to hearing your stance on protecting our youth from forced service. Context for your petition: • The Law: While the Supreme Court ruled in Arver v. United States (1918) that the draft is constitutional, many legal scholars argue that in a modern, non-existential conflict, it violates the spirit of the 13th Amendment(Involuntary Servitude). • The Conflict of Interest: Critics argue that Palantir’s push for a draft is a "supervillain-esque" attempt to align national policy with their AI-driven "hard power" software, potentially creating a steady stream of personnel to use their products in conflict. • Automatic Registration: The 2026 shift from "self-registration" to "automatic registration" means the government will use DMV and Federal records to enroll all eligible men (and potentially women) without their direct action, a move that many see as a precursor to an active draft.