No universal healthcare or education, high infant mortality rates, no subsidies for childcare at scale, no mandated sick or vacation time federally. 12 million children living in poverty. Limited or no options for getting mental health care. “We live in a society” in air quotes. When your country provides so little, it is difficult to establish a debt is owed back to it and society.
And the thought of having my kids join the meat grinder for yet another meaningless war for people who care so little for you a random underfunded non profit will have to fill the gap when they come back permanently broken? And your risks of chronic homelessness and/or suicide skyrocket? Absolutely not. Save your life and fight in you for something that matters.
The AVF functions, in a crude analogy, as a contract force for these wars you're talking about. If everyone - and I mean everyone - had skin in the game the prospect of more of these misadventures starts to diminish. It doesn't go away completely, and certainly the elite could invent ways to get around the service requirements, but it's a start.
We should have most of those things too, except we probably can’t do anything about our infant mortality rate because it’s not a healthcare system problem, and universal college which is worthless and regressive. But definitely 6 months of paid maternity leave, mandatory paid vacation, etc.
I hear there are large, wealthy states controlled by a party that supposedly believes in doing things for workers. How’s that going?
South Korea is in a very peculiar situation, isn't it? IMO it (and Taiwan) can't be used to argue for mandatory service in the US, a country that has no hostile neighbours at it's borders.
But there are other countries like Austria that can be used as an example.
Appeals to the authority of other nation states. Weak.
I don’t mind going there; none of you are important enough that anyone else should be forced into being on guard for you.
Here’s a more interesting idea; what if we intentionally created less need for militarization. I like how instead of targeting capitalism you veer towards militant protectionism; more of the same from well financed property owners. Boring.
Be careful with “we live a society”. Brain dead chants have a way of being used to prop up some atrocious shit. “We live in a society where lynching minorities is acceptable!” is not so long ago.
Why not just bring on the inevitable end of humanity and blow it up. End the dumb charade a bunch of apes are not just fooling themselves.