I wouldn’t presume to be smarter than Hank Paulson, Elaine Chao, or Bob Gates; however, I believe we can solve most of the social & economic issues on the planet by providing full-time employment opportunities to men ages 18-25.
- We don’t need to provide aid to the Palestinians.
- We don’t need to arm the Chechens.
- We don’t need to defend Iraq from Islamic jihadists.
We need to provide young men with opportunities to earn a living and have a purpose beyond themselves. We need to arm our young men with skills & knowledge — not dogma — and set our expectations high. Nothing short of full-time employment or national service is acceptable.
- A man with a job is a man who doesn’t have time to riot.
- A man with a job is someone who is engaged in a legitimate economy.
- A man with a job is focused on the future and not caught up in the stress that often leads to violence — both domestic and global.
You remember what happened when L Paul Bremmer disbanded the Iraqi army, right? All those men, all those guns, and all that free time. The decision to eliminate the Iraqi army was stupid and short-sighted. We foisted a plague onto Iraqi civil society. We’ve ruined a generation of lives in that country.
I say that we need a government (& global?) policy: one man, one job, one set of high expectations. Hold these men accountable. Put them to work on projects that rebuild our infrastructure, our schools, and our economy — or have these chumps fill the potholes on my street. F’it, we had a few sheep & goats get loose in my neighborhood. Put these young guys on Round-the-Clock Neighborhood Sheep Watch and pay them a living wage.
There is no excuse for the social problems that come with unemployment, economic uncertainty, and the erosion of the middle class. We need to stop accepting intellectual poverty, laziness, and general malaise in our society. Employment equals enfranchisement, and I believe that we’ll be pleasantly surprised if we provide employment opportunties and hold our young men accountable for meeting and exceeding our expectations.
*I’ll offer solutions for women in a future post, but yes, women need full employment, too.
That is some kind of powerful. This is the very kind of thing that I would love to see Barack Obama get behind. Very clear thinking on this, Laurie. Thanks for stimulating this thought.
Yes, but:
I firmly believe that creativity requires free time, at least for people in a certain stage of their development. Where is there room for the creative class in your system? Is it truly a matter of “class”, with only the children of the rich permitted to be slackers?
I also have a little trouble with the totalitarian aspect of obligatory service, and with the opportunities for corruption presented by such a system. We’d probably agree that it works best when it occurs naturally as a consequence of a healthy economy and preserves individual choice.
@frank Thanks
@riddle I think creativity is important, but you have to earn the right to be creative. Look at those poor souls who wait on tables in NYC & LA while auditioning for theater roles. How about writers who work at Starbucks? There is room for creativity, but leisure in a Wordsworthian sense must be earned or offset with some other income.
Also, I’m with you on totalitarian compulsory national service; however, I think that a society that offers much should expect a little in return. If we have a better national healthcare system or better college educational opportunities in the future, national service should be part of the required “payment” for those benefits. Don’t go join the Army — join Teach for America or go work on upgrading the wifi system at a local school. Whatevs.
Compulsory national service is unconstitutional and is in opposition to our natural rights as human beings. In addition to our basic freedoms, our Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Therefore, healthcare, which I consider to be in the “life” category is a guaranteed right that our government must provide. The same can be said for education. To say one must give up the freedom of choice in order to be provided with healthcare is a dangerous and irreconcilable notion.
I love this idea and can completely understand how a reciprocal idea for women isn’t necessary. Unemployed women are generally not out joining radical militias, selling drugs or gang banging.
However, I remain skeptical that a single, simple solution can solve complicated problems. This would be a good goal and worth trying on a smaller scale. But I’d like to see more evidence that it helps before endorsing this as a global policy.
Although providing jobs to men ages 18 through ages 25 might solve a tiny, shred of the problem, where and how are they getting the skill sets.
And while that age group is employed, what’s the solution for those of us, like women in our 40’s who are educated, skilled, and have experience who have been forced out of work because of the economy? Do we get to riot? Just wondering what your solution is for us.
Laurie you and Kris Dunn should get together, he had the Army Recruiting post awhile back. Clearly there’s employment to be had there.
@John Compulsory national service is unconstitutional and is in opposition to our natural rights as human beings There’s a certain hippie side of me that agrees with you, but there’s also a hippie side of me that believes in collective responsibility. You don’t have to serve in the military, but you should be something more than a selfish cancer on our society. You don’t have the right to be a freeloader and infringe on my right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness.
@Perry I remain skeptical that a single, simple solution can solve complicated problems. I do, too, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try something new. That’s my goal, yo.
@Lisa where and how are they getting the skill sets? Good question. Hey, I’m only giving you the solution. You gotta work out the process to achieve it.
Do we get to riot? Just wondering what your solution is for us. I’d love to see a group of women over 40 start a riot. I saw some Cabbage Patch riots in the 80s, and it was ugly.
@megbear I’m not sure that I want to stick these stupid guys in the Army (& I have that show Tivo’d) — but I might ask them to dedicate two years to fighting forest fires. I think there’s something important about working so hard (for something that’s so important) that you don’t have time to think about your own selfish needs.
Laurie, thanks for your thoughtful replies to all of us.
About earning the right to slack, all I can say is the two art forms I care the most about - music and novels - would be dead in the water if there weren’t a way for people to spend a few years un- or grossly under-employed while they get started in their craft. The fact that most wannabes fail doesn’t void the fact that most of the successes need to go through a period when you can’t tell whether they’re really talented or not.
As for employment for women, I look forward to hearing your ideas on that. My impression is that unemployed women don’t represent the threat of criminality or war that unemployed young men do, but impoverished women imply impoverished children. Furthermore, educating women and giving them economic power seem to be two preconditions for a whole lot of other public goods, including child health, stabilization of birth rates, reducing domestic violence, and much more. But you knew that.
@Prentiss Your comments are awesome and the artistic comment & the poor women/poor children comment require more thought. I’m passionate about reproductive rights in third world/emerging countries. Animals have more rights than women in some of these countries. I’m pro-animal, but I’m also pro-women.
How are you going to pay for it?
@willy I’m going to raise your taxes, of course.
@Laurie Then I’m going to work less.
Typical young guy — just don’t riot, yo!
Selfish cancer on society? That’s quite a leap. I guess I just don’t see the connection between “freeloading” and being able to make your own decisions about what to do with your own life. Scary that yours is the prevailing thought in this country.
Someone please let me know before the women over 40 start to riot. I would like to be several stories underground in a bunker (with my cats) when that happens.
You know what scares the crap out of me? The fact that kids can grow up under the wings of great parents who do everything “right” and still turn out to be freeloading crapheads in a good economy with plenty of opportunity. Of course, no parent or parenting style is perfect. But isn’t that scary? Ay, yi, yi. Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be s l a c k e r s.
PS Laurie, this is an awesome post. One of your best.
@john - i guess i don’t see what’s so bad about requiring people to contribute to the society that allows us to have so much freedom… if we all contribute, then we pave the way for this way of life to continue. if most people sit back and leech off of those who do volunteer, then eventually, the leeching will overcome the volunteering.
(if requiring is too strong a word… perhaps strongly encourage? it takes a lot of work for our american lifestyle to exist. i honestly don’t know if it is stable in the long run… we consume way too much here, and don’t contribute enough.)