National Service

[FatAndFaithless]

As an 18 year old I would've taken any job I could get.  I'm not objecting on the grounds that it sounds like a bad deal for the people that accept it, I'm objecting to the huge expansion of the federal government and the cycle it would create.  The people that grow up relying on the gov't can only keep the things they've been relying upon if they then work for the federal government.

We rely on the federal government for those things regardless...by definition..since we're talking about a national healthcare system, for example.  More on this below.

I just don't think it's part of the government's job to be that huge a part of everyone's lives - even creating situations that are 'too good to refuse.'

Too good to refuse is a step up from creepy, I'm gonna call that progress.  

So, understanding that we rely on federal programs for this or that service...and assuming that there are at least some programs where you think our federal government should do more (there are, aren't there?)...does it not then follow that we would, somehow, have to make provisions so that said federal government was even -capable- of doing more, in those areas?  

Have you heard, for example, of the bottleneck on environmental cases?  That there simply isn't enough manpower to process them, in addition to the regular defunding (which of course reduces available manpower and the ability to outsource the same)?

I think there are a lot of areas of the federal government that could use some serious funding reductions.  And yes, there are some federal programs that we rely on for this or that service, that aren't being defunded at the moment, without having compulsory service to keep them going.  And I'm sorry, I don't find a 'bottleneck' in environmental cases a valid argument for compulsory (I might even call it coercive) work.

The solution for not having enough manpower isn't coercing people to become part of the workforce.