Former North Carolina Senator and Democratic candidate for President John Edwards expressed his support for a program of mandatory national service this week. In an Associated Press article by Philip Elliott, Edwards Touts Plan to End Iraq Conflict Elliot notes:

Edwards also called Monday for spreading the burden of serving the country by mandating national service.

"One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America -- not just the poor kids who get sent to war -- are serving this country," he said.

After the event, Edwards said he had not meant to imply that only the poor go to war, only that everyone should serve in some way.