Why Every American Should Pledge One Year Of Public Service

[sargentodiaz]

What an awesome idea! Here's another great statement:

A culture that expects public service would not make for a perfect America, but it would make for a country more aligned with our stated values and ideals.

Of course, with our current national mentality, those pledging such service would expect recompense in return. There are many ways to serve that already exist. And perhaps, private industry could give certain advantages to those who have taken and completed this action.

Comments coming I'm sure. Read more @ http://taskandpurpose.com/why-every-american-should-pledge-one-year-of-public-service/

What did JFK say? Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Yet anyone who works for the government, besides active duty military personnel, are the object of derision for the Conservative talking heads.  Go figure.

[Big Dog]

And who, pray tell, will feed, clothe, house, and provide medical care to your army of unpaid volunteers? As anyone who read Atlas Shrugged might ask, 'at what cost?', particularly at what cost to the American taxpayer?

Here is another Rand quote for you, by John Galt: 'I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another to live for mine." What makes you believe that massive altruism in service to the State is preferable?

[thundley4]

Here is another Rand quote for you, by John Galt: 'I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another to live for mine." What makes you believe that massive altruism in service to the State is preferable?

But, in a way, isn't that what serving in the military is all about?  Sure, you get paid for it, but ultimately you may be asked to forfeit your life. 

[Big Dog]

But, in a way, isn't that what serving in the military is all about?  Sure, you get paid for it, but ultimately you may be asked to forfeit your life.

I disagree.

Galt (Rand) refuses to "live my life for the sake of another man". Galt rejects mental, physical, and economic slavery, and the devaluing of the self.

That is very different from choosing (volunteering for)  military service, which directly benefits the individual through training, pay, and benefits; through protecting his home, family, and future economic means; and ultimately by protecting his own life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness.

[DumbAss Tanker]

But, in a way, isn't that what serving in the military is all about?  Sure, you get paid for it, but ultimately you may be asked to forfeit your life.

Yes, and the same could be said of a healthy marriage and the protection of children, one's own or not.  You have to look at Rand's Galt ideal as an extreme statement of individualist philosophy, bigger than is possible in real life, with some mental gymnastics being required to adhere to that paradigm but still value the normal altruistic behavior that can cause one to give up his or her own life for children, family, and comrades-in-arms.

[Crazy Horse]

Yet anyone who works for the government, besides active duty military personnel, are the object of derision for the Conservative talking heads.  Go figure.

Amen brother tanker.

[sargentodiaz]

Well, I don't want to throw the thread off kilter but will offer this:

There is an (unnamed) religious group that teaches its children from the earliest age that it is their responsibility to look out for the welfare of others. They volunteer a great deal of time helping those in need and visiting elderly living alone. They are about the most civic minded people I know. They shun government handout programs and, if someone loses their job, the internally help the family. In return, the unemployed helps out at various church facilities.

It's purely voluntary. Shame something similar could never work at the government level.

[Big Dog]

It's purely voluntary. Shame something similar could never work at the government level.

Is this the same government you want to abolish in your other thread?

[JohnnyReb]

DUmmies will volunteer to play guitar, sing songs, paint pictures, do performance art and that's about it....in other words, pretty much what they want to do now for a lifetime.