I was making my own job with no benefits for almost 30 years and even that died a sudden death in 2008. And I have been sitting here on food stamps because it isn’t practical or I’m not needed and can’t get current anymore.

There is no masking the fact that the glory and prosperity days are fading. All advice in the above comments seems tragically always beside the point. There are no more Australias for the unwanted underclass of the old world. We have more people in prison than any country on earth and yet their lives are as invisible as those in North Korea’s gulags.

Perhaps n there is no escaping the fact that an entire society that lives and actually needs material waste in mega quantities in order to fuel it’s economy forgot that its one corporeal flesh or any class is also a part of that material reality that can also be wasted and now actually has to waste it too.

There is still a glimmer of hope in a hobby I was pursuing all the time and have actually had some custom and a dandy discussion on theater design with a very professional and talented designer. But I will make about as much as it cost me last weekend to get an exam at the local weekend walk in clinic: two chest x-rays, nose spray and 6 pills to fight a nasal infection. It will take me twenty hours or more to do what that clinic and the pharmacy ate in about 30 minutes.

The real problem in this society seems to be that its cost of living is enormous and it is now hopelessly trapped in it.

Perhaps they should eagerly start to abandon the existing rattle trap and try to establish Solari like alternate communities that can somehow reset the economic and social rules of life and do their best and most creative thinking while keeping themselves from rotting or frustrating to death. If one wants to encourage a work ethic one must have gainful employment. Paying homage to infrastructure improvements of dubious necessity or the treacherous values of military discipline is not nearly as important as the ability to create lives that have some kind of better philosophical or spiritual value than keeping the shopping malls and real estate cost structure of this country alive. “Materialist” values for their own sake may be what are dying now.

Maybe it is time to coax the idea of the “miracle of the loaves and the fishes”. We may not have to live like Spartan skivvies either to get there. And not everyone would care to participate. But it is a neglected concept. I’d get sectarian but wiser heads in the past – the Shakers for one – knew how to lead deeply devoted lives and not get all self-righteous on everyone’s ass. They were more concerned with the compromise of individual liberties than some of the comments above, in fact most of them. They tend to be wanna be Caesars, all of them, and are eager to advise others to do things they think they are inherently dispensed from pursuing themselves. The Shakers established a thriving economic and religious culture that lasted 150 years and their sacrifices were mutually shared at the start and they provided that no volunteer interested in the life of their communities would be trapped in them if they had a change of heart.

No one is ever eager to follow the advise of hypocrites.

I never disagree with a “person”, only an opinion (or to any conspicuous lack of logic or common sense therein). I served in the USAF for four years. I wouldn’t call the experience “life-changing”, but, given applicable circumstances, it was the best of available choices at the time for one young, without work experience, and subject to the draft. I consider my time then well invested.

What you describe is a form of “national service”. Although you don’t suggest a term of service, I think your proposal is well thought out. I’m impressed!

With regard to #3, if there were a “basic” two year term there might be little choice considering that no one would choose certain things the government needs done; and yet for another year or two there would be more vocational training “up front” that the government would then benefit from for the remainder of one’s “tour”. This would be similar to requiring longer service for those accepted for pilot training or other fields leading to well compensated “civilian pay”.

Yes, America set up training facilities nationwide in WW II and cranked out mechanics, weather observers, transportation and logistics hubs, etc. in six to eight week courses (pilots took longer, and many bombardiers and navigators were pilot trainees that “washed out”.

I agree there’s no reason whatsoever that similar priorities could not train our unskilled and inexperienced for many jobs. This would take a well-deserved ax to the roots of our present dead-end educational establishment and create a positive and ongoing “can-do” population.

One valuable asset this proposal AND the WPA have in common is that people are accepted who have no frame of reference for getting up each morning, going to work, and working and accomplishing things by teamwork and collaboration. The person with such experience has a “leg up” in the employment market and those with no “clue” no chance.

And I agree with you completely that benefits unearned are seldom appreciated. I also agree that such a proposal has about the chance of a snowball in hell given the demographics of the country and a mind set of entitlement and instant gratification. But I would actively support such action because it’s logical and credible. Count me in.

As I said, I am retired. So these issues are really your problem now.

However, if you find it interesting, you may want to pursue it as a solution that would actually cut the size and cost of the government.

There is no downside to the idea of a draft for government service to put “boots on our streets” to turn an old military phrase.

As to how we could reduce our military costs, they would be naturally reduced by elimination of ALL government contractors and replacing them with government service draftees — not with a military focus, necessarily — but there are, as you no doubt know, many jobs that are necessary for a military organization to operate effectively. Putting people in these positions gives them invaluable training when they leave after fulfilling their obligation to this nation.

You won’t get anywhere, though, because (1) this country has become far too liberal for something that stringent, and (2) too many “fat cows” would be gored by the elimination of civilian contractors.

I don’t want to end my life tilting at windmills.

@ OneOfTheSheep & tmc –

Normally you both disagree with me vehemently when I express an opinion, but I would like you to respond to my idea of reinstating the draft for the good of this nation.

I think anything that is not earned is not appreciated, which is one of the main problems in this country today.

Before you reply, I should tell you I served during the Vietnam War, so I speak with some experience as to how life-changing a stint in the “King’s Service”, so to speak, can do for one’s perspectives.
Posted by PseudoTurtle |

If you read what I said more carefully, you will realize this is not about increasing the size of our armed forces, but decreasing it.

The emphasis would be on training a high-school graduate to take his/her place in society instead of just falling through the cracks as they do now.