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[jobendorfer]

324. Not A Good Idea

The usual argument is that well, Israel does this, and Switzerland does this.
Nobody stops to think that the total population of Switzerland is 8 million
and Israel is about the same size.

There are ~33 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 24.
If you require two years of military service from each person within that age range,
the size of the armed forces will swell to ~11 million active members.

This is just a bit smaller than the size of the armed forces in World War II,
far and away the largest conflict the U.S. has ever been involved in. You know,
where the Germany - Italy - Japan axis had seized control of half the world and
was gunning for the other half? Today our most signficant threat is an asymmetric
conflict with a middle eastern terror network that is just about half the size of
the Crips.

But back to your idea:

First, where is the funding to pay for:
- their pay
- their food and housing
- their equipment
- their training

Second, and this is really the most important question:
What do you think our government will do with a permanent armed force
of eleven million? Construct your answer assuming that at some point
Republican-minded people will be running the country again.

And stepping away from the objective questions, I find it the height of arrogance
when people assume have the correct answer as to how to transform everyone else
into some ill-defined and fuzzy ideal of the model citizen.

John