Pam’s got a post up noticing that the trial balloons for a military draft are beginning to appear…
A military expert and Pentagon advisor says the United States should look at Germany if it wants to find a way to solve the long-term military recruiting problem. While President Bush and most Pentagon officials want to avoid a draft, retired Army Lt. Colonel Bob Maginnis says unless the pace of the war on terror decreases, conscription might be America’s best recourse. He notes, “I have a half-brother who lives in Germany who, when he was 18, after his high school, had to provide mandatory public service — either the military or he could go into social service. It was still the same 18-month obligation. He helped invalids in his community, and it was an organized program.”
A military draft — lottery choices for cannon fodder — I am completely against. But German-style public service… I’m for it. I have argued for years that there should be mandatory public service for all high school graduates. Like Germany, you could choose civic or military duty. Americorps or the Marine Corps. Workin’ homeless shelters or workin’ a M-16. Feedin’ the elderly or feedin’ the troops. Teaching school or flying a fighter jet.
(Note to parents – this kind of thinking is what happens when you let your 10-year-old son read a lot of Robert A. Heinlein. Especially Starship Troopers.)
The idea here is that everyone passes this initiation rite to become a part of society. You prove your dedication to the social body, to something larger than yourself. This obligation (I’d make it two years) serves the good of educating young people about the world they live in and the people in it. It helps the nation by providing care for the most vulnerable, rebuilding where it is needed most, and, let’s face it, manning a capable military force.
OK, let’s not make it mandatory. But service has its privileges. Only those who have completed service can vote or hold political office (and, yes, there would be some sort of service available for anyone of any physical or mental condition). Then maybe our governmental leaders can draw on their experiences as members of the military when making decisions about war. Maybe our voting public can draw on their experience in the shelter or clinic when making decisions about poverty or health care. And finally, the people who don’t care enough to serve for others won’t get to make decisions that affect everyone.
Maybe also the people who don’t serve don’t have to pay income taxes. No, that’s not a typo. If you serve, you belong to society, and you have to help pay to support it. Sounds harsh, I know, but then think of all the rich greedy bastards who won’t serve just to get out of the taxes, and therefore won’t be Congressmen or Presidents or Justices. There will still be property taxes, sales taxes, corporate taxes, whatever taxes, and we could do more to actually get the rich guys to pay their fair share if less of them are in office.
But also, not serving means you don’t get any government benefits. Nothing. No student loans, no Social Security, no Medicare, no unemployment, no disability, no federal bank account insurance, no taxpayer bailouts of your company, and so on. You get that perfect libertarian lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of. Don’t worry, private charities and faith-based organizations will take up the slack, just like you always said they would.
You can serve your two years at any point in your life. If you’re getting tired of being a rich guy who can’t vote or a homeless guy sick of the shelter, you can go right over to the recruiter and sign up to do your time. But it’s got to be two consecutive years continuously and it’s got to be a full-time we-place-you-where-we-need-you affair, just like the eighteen-year-olds go through.
If you are discharged from your public service (civilian or military) for disciplinary reasons, you get one more chance in your life to try to serve again, and you must re-do the entire two years. If you’re discharged a second time, your only remaining option is two-year military service. Three strikes and yer out… of the running for the right to vote, hold office, and pay taxes. (My idea here is to make sure the kids who pick the easier gigs in the civilian corps do them well.)
There would be lots of civilian careers where completion of a degree plus two years on the job could count for the “public service”. Teachers, firefighters, police, nurses, and maybe each job is evaluated and different terms of tenure count for the program (like, say, five years as a teacher counts as two years as a cop). I don’t know, that’s something that we can flesh out later. We’d already have to rewrite a lot of the Constitution just to do the mandatory public service thing.
