Mandatory Military Service

[307]

It's a job. You got paid for it and got some solid benefits. Some of which will follow you for life. Do you get upset when a cashier doesn't thank you for your service on Veteran's day?

You're proving my greater point with your false assumption.

The overall idea is that we need people voting for the good of the nation, rather than primarily in their own self interests. Several people assumed that since I was using military service as one qualification to increase influence on government and society that it must be because it benefits me personally. I'm not a veteran. I'm just proposing ideas which I think would make for a better country even though it doesn't benefit me.

Nor is military service the only qualification that I think should increase a person's influence on the government/society. Other elements are a bit more challenging to define as they tend to come with a host of unintended consequences.

Anyway, just a fun thought experiment.

Preparing for things to progressively get worse.

Will our ultimate downfall be at the hands of a foreign enemy or will we destroy ourselves from within? I think the latter. We're well on the way.

 

[ActivelyDying]

As somebody currently in the public service realm, this is dumb. There are many people who shouldn’t ever be in public service positions whether that’s Mil, LE, FF, EMS, Nursing, MD, etc. there’s too many people that won’t be able to handle the mental demand, physical demand, trauma and will end up shitting the bed and making others sleep in their incompetence. I see it where I work, individuals that somehow managed to get into the roles they’re in now and absolutely suck at their job, they’re not who you want serving you or your family. It’s unfortunate that those people continue to serve in their current positions and I’d hate to see the day that there’s a lot more of them. Not everyone is cracked out for it and that’s okay, we need all kinds of people to keep the machine moving for the top 1%.

I do believe everyone should have to work in some sort of food industry customer service job at some point though, preferably as a teenager or in their early 20s. We’d have a lot less grown ass humans freaking out over the wrong topping on a pizza. Or treating minimum wage earners like they’re minimum wage humans.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I don’t know half the people I went to basic with read at a 5 th grade level and were dumber than a box of rocks. Those were the guys shooting 155 howitzers over peoples heads.

A bunch had waivers to get in because they committed crimes . To think that military service in some way makes some one more worthy to vote is laughable.

Yeah, I didn't want to go there but, yeah, lets take the bottom half of every high school class and put them in charge.

 

[Jpsmith1]

You're proving my greater point with your false assumption.

The overall idea is that we need people voting for the good of the nation, rather than primarily in their own self interests. Several people assumed that since I was using military service as one qualification to increase influence on government and society that it must be because it benefits me personally. I'm not a veteran. I'm just proposing ideas which I think would make for a better country even though it doesn't benefit me.

Nor is military service the only qualification that I think should increase a person's influence on the government/society. Other elements are a bit more challenging to define as they tend to come with a host of unintended consequences.

Anyway, just a fun thought experiment.

Preparing for things to progressively get worse.

Will our ultimate downfall be at the hands of a foreign enemy or will we destroy ourselves from within? I think the latter. We're well on the way.

I think this is actually somewhat accurate.

I do think we need more people voting with concern and care for their country and their neighbors in mind.

I think too many people vote for the person who looks like them or for the person who says the things that they're thinking but are too afraid to say out loud.

They vote based on one or two wedge issues that they've been hammered by algorithmic driven media to focus on rather than taking a broader look at a large picture because big pictures are complicated and difficult to absorb completely.

So, yeah, we need to vote better and smarter, but I don’t think basic training is the route to get there.

 

[Jpsmith1]

As somebody currently in the public service realm, this is dumb. There are many people who shouldn’t ever be in public service positions whether that’s Mil, LE, FF, EMS, Nursing, MD, etc. there’s too many people that won’t be able to handle the mental demand, physical demand, trauma and will end up shitting the bed and making others sleep in their incompetence. I see it where I work, individuals that somehow managed to get into the roles they’re in now and absolutely suck at their job, they’re not who you want serving you or your family. It’s unfortunate that those people continue to serve in their current positions and I’d hate to see the day that there’s a lot more of them. Not everyone is cracked out for it and that’s okay, we need all kinds of people to keep the machine moving for the top 1%.

I do believe everyone should have to work in some sort of food industry customer service job at some point though, preferably as a teenager or in their early 20s. We’d have a lot less grown ass humans freaking out over the wrong topping on a pizza. Or treating minimum wage earners like they’re minimum wage humans.

I made both of my kids work those jobs. My words were "I want them to work too hard for too little money so that they understand what it's like to work"

It seems to have worked because, as young adults, they're both good and caring people.

 

[bbckfh]

Well they aren’t gonna gain a lot of purpose and discipline from killing other human beings. I promise you that.

I think you might be surprised.

Both by the very small percentage who do have to actually kill someone. As well as by the clarity that doing so injects into someone’s sense of humanity. Sometimes it harms their psyche, sometimes it instills a sense of value for others’ lives, and often imbues a sense of responsibility not to take one’s civic responsibility for granted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rookieforever33]

Many drug addicts wandering the streets had a decent start into adulthood. Mandatory service may have derailed their lives earlier.

 

[Poser]

Almost 300 posts later and we’re still arguing about a concept that would costs roughly 2.5 trillion dollars, almost half of America’s total tax revenue, to implement in the modern age. And that cost exists on top of the current defense budget, which, if expanded to 1.5 trillion as proposed, would consume around 4 trillion of the total tax revenue of ~4.5 trillion.

There’s no room in conventional reality to implement such a program in contemporary America unless you want to do it on a bare bones budget using condemned elementary schools as installations and rededicate the entire defense budget to mandatory service for everyone…. bone spurs apparently notwithstanding.

 

[KurtR]

I don't think anybody is using military service as a qualification due to the intelligence level of those who serve.

The justification would be that those who serve in the military (hopefully) have a better understanding of the consequences of politics and political decisions, aka "more skin in the game".

They don’t . Hope isn’t a strategy

 

[KurtR]

Many drug addicts wandering the streets had a decent start into adulthood. Mandatory service may have derailed their lives earlier.

Many drug addicts were made by the military

 

[rookieforever33]

^^^^^^^^
When I was younger I remember a few times judges told young adult men to join the military or go to jail as a penance for their crimes. The military probably straightened more out than jail would have, but some came out angrier and tougher. All were exposed to things they were not expecting, neither did the judges.

 

[OsoMountain]

I think you might be surprised.

Both by the very small percentage who do have to actually kill someone. As well as by the clarity that doing so injects into someone’s sense of humanity. Sometimes it harms their psyche, sometimes it instills a sense of value for others’ lives, and often imbues a sense of responsibility not to take one’s civic responsibility for granted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well god damn, Audie Murphy. Please, by all means. Extrapolate with your own personal experiences on the subject. What clarity comes from taking another human life? What sense of civic responsibility is bestowed upon some young kid forced to kill his way back home?

 

[ThorM465]

It's a job. You got paid for it and got some solid benefits. Some of which will follow you for life. Do you get upset when a cashier doesn't thank you for your service on Veteran's day?

People with young children have more skin in the game than people whose children are no longer their dependents. And at what age do you think people should no longer have the right to vote? It stands to reason that elderly people have a lot less skin in the game since they won't be around long enough to see the consequences of a lot of US policy. What's your age cutoff where people don't get to vote anymore?

But the people who *checks notes* blew up 150 elementary school girls in the first strike package we did in the Iran war are of superior moral character? No room temp IQ and minimal ethical standards in the military? Just a bunch of megamind saints walking around?

I'm going to take great pleasure in disenfranchising your vote.

I don’t know half the people I went to basic with read at a 5 th grade level and were dumber than a box of rocks. Those were the guys shooting 155 howitzers over peoples heads.

A bunch had waivers to get in because they committed crimes . To think that military service in some way makes some one more worthy to vote is laughable.

Once we institute service equals citizenship, the increase in enlistments will allow us to raise the standards. One problem at a time.
What's laughable is the homeless crack head canceling out your vote.

I don't think anybody is using military service as a qualification due to the intelligence level of those who serve.

The justification would be that those who serve in the military (hopefully) have a better understanding of the consequences of politics and political decisions, aka "more skin in the game".

I applaud you for trying to break it down to the simplest level for the tenth time. However, some won't understand no matter how many times you explain it. IQ limitations are a real thing.

So, yeah, we need to vote better and smarter, but I don’t think basic training is the route to get there.

Then give us a better solution. We can't continue down this road where a homeless crack head getting paid $2 for their vote counts just the same as yours or mine.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Then give us a better solution. We can't continue down this road where a homeless crack head getting paid $2 for their vote counts just the same as yours or mine.

Instead of trying to combat the disproportionate system by using the same logic and giving more credit to the vote of certain individuals based on their contributions, wouldn't it make sense to just fix the system?

Get rid of the electoral college.

 

[KurtR]

I'm going to take great pleasure in disenfranchising your vote.



Once we institute service equals citizenship, the increase in enlistments will allow us to raise the standards. One problem at a time.
What's laughable is the homeless crack head canceling out your vote.



I applaud you for trying to break it down to the simplest level for the tenth time. However, some won't understand no matter how many times you explain it. IQ limitations are a real thing.



Then give us a better solution. We can't continue down this road where a homeless crack head getting paid $2 for their vote counts just the same as yours or mine.

Fair chance the homeless crack head is a product of the GWOT. I don’t know many crack heads but the few I do ain’t worried about voting.

 

[realunlucky]

Wow this is a crazy Rollercoaster of a thread.

Some of you are delusional also a lot of responses show how few people give beyond themselves.

Some of the best humans in the world are in the military and unfortunately also some of the worst. It takes all kinds to make the world go around.

I don't think service necessary makes a a person more civic minded but it definitely makes them more mindful of the flaws in the system. Choosing between two disgusting candidates that care about nothing other than furthering thier own agenda is sure infuriating but I guess you don't have to served to know that.

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

 

[average]

I'm going to take great pleasure in disenfranchising your vote.



Once we institute service equals citizenship, the increase in enlistments will allow us to raise the standards. One problem at a time.
What's laughable is the homeless crack head canceling out your vote.



I applaud you for trying to break it down to the simplest level for the tenth time. However, some won't understand no matter how many times you explain it. IQ limitations are a real thing.



Then give us a better solution. We can't continue down this road where a homeless crack head getting paid $2 for their vote counts just the same as yours or mine.

If we're going to ignore reality the easy solution is a civics tests to vote. Based on your attitude and responses I don't believe you'd pass but I also don't believe the president would pass. The test new Americans pass to become citizens would most likely be enough to deter many voters. That said I'd rather see money removed from politics, a more educated country, and more people voting.

 

[S.Clancy]

I'm curious how we are planning on paying the salaries and inevitable disability payments in the event we all have mandatory military service???

 

[Poser]

I'm going to take great pleasure in disenfranchising your vote.



Once we institute service equals citizenship, the increase in enlistments will allow us to raise the standards. One problem at a time.
What's laughable is the homeless crack head canceling out your vote.

You're stating this as if its inevitable, as if there is any movement of any real substance towards this anywhere in American culture or politics. If you are hedging your future on taking great pleasure in disenfranchising the votes of others, 100% chance you're going to die having lived an unfulfilled life.

Furthermore, your logic is backwards. If you strip the right to vote away from the general population and make it a reward only for service, you don't get an influx of eager volunteers allowing you to 'raise standards.' You get a hollowed-out economy, massive civil unrest, and a military forced to lower its standards just to maintain basic numbers against a hostile, disenfranchised population. You aren't describing a stable future; you’re describing a classic recipe for a failed state. I think this is the theme that went right over your head missed when you read "Starship Troopers."

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Alright now that we are getting posts and users reported from this thread that's a good sign it has run it's course, locking this one up