have you had any thoughts on this
well not really uh
i uh am of an age where i could have very well served in the military during the Vietnam era and i did not
um-hum
how old are you if i can ask
huh do what
how old are you
i'm will be forty nine in August
okay so we're about the same age
right uh
during that time i was in college and uh and also had some minor health problems that did keep me out of the out of the military or or help to keep me out anyway
um-hum
um-hum
but uh i'm not opposed to military service at all
yeah i think this is also a a broader scope i think uh they're talking about uh just service in general and um
uh
yeah
i i did a lot of this sort of thing in in college in the summers um i worked uh in uh Mexico doing community service for uh for two summers while i was in college and you know it was an incredibly worthwhile experience
um-hum
so in theory i'm am favor of this but on the other hand i'm an economist
and uh just like uh well the military has a tremendous uh you know responsibility for security and everything but there's also an equally tremendous budget
so i guess on the other hand as as as as good as this idea is it's got to be paid for
uh even though it's uh you know it it's it's never quite voluntary people have to be paid if they're asked to serve for a year in any capacity
so uh you know uh uh the idea's great where does the money come from
right i guess uh uh i've had i have had some thoughts in the past that uh this this service should not be uh performed for for areas that we don't need the service you know uh it's if it's uh
and
if it's voluntary service but it's being furnished by the government it should be to take the place of things that the government's doing already
um-hum
it should it it should or shouldn't it should um-hum
should right
so uh you know the the the voluntary service in the medical you know
but i don't think it was it was voluntary i think it was just the required year of required service there was nothing about voluntary
oh okay yeah then then then i guess that's you know uh-huh
that's why as an economist my my my ears perked up
uh at at any rate i guess my idea is that that
if we're going to replace if we're going to to institute this national service policy that that service policy should replace some other area
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uh-huh
where we're spending money uh you know uh you know eliminate eliminate some bureaucrats and let the let these national this national service take care of their job
and doing it at a less expensive rate then
uh-huh
of course you'll probably get another whole layer of bureaucracy running it
right and uh
i mean let's face it the military is probably one of the most bureaucratic agencies
right yeah
so i i i you know on the one hand my immediate reaction to it was oh it's wonderful you know i think people do owe their country something whether it
yeah
they serve in the military or for those who for for one reason or other can't want to serve in another area and have talents in another area
um-hum
great but then who pays and if they have to and they don't go into the labor the other labor force you're losing money in terms of taxing
yeah
right
from other jobs i mean so there's it's not it's not a real cut and dry
yeah i agree uh it and and it would uh would be nice if we could get some uh some multiple use out of this you know maybe uh
thing
um-hum
have the the military which is you know is is is a a a real drain financially on the country have the people that are in the military serve some other function you know instead instead of just military uh
um-hum um-hum
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and just marching around waiting for a war
right uh
yeah uh we did have something similar to a volunteer thing with uh which was volunteer although volunteer there was a minimum payment uh like Vista which was a domestic Peace Corps some time back
right
and probably coming from Texas you may have bumped into some of that
yeah i have seen uh you know i'm not really that you know that familiar with it i am aware that that that Vista and uh yeah
oh
yeah and i know the army what's the army has a corps of engineers
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which uh could probably be one of those areas that uh could be uh privatized or civilianized or whatever some of the areas there you know for domestic use
right
i've always wondered why the army corps of of engineers took care of floods you know in in certain areas why was
right it's well i guess uh in in in looking at that one reason that the army corps of engineers is that uh the military schools
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do have probably among the top engineering schools in the country uh
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but of course there are many private engineering schools that are absolutely superb
right
but uh but if if the government's going to uh to provide the service then government you know government trained people are are logical to do that uh
yeah they made
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yeah and of course back during the depression when the government started doing things like uh CCC the Civilian Conservation Corps
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so i uh you know there's a bit of a history of people serving the government and it doesn't have to be as the military you know if you go in just as a as an enlistee uh the wage isn't anything great
right
so if if you're asking for a year of service it doesn't have to be a wage comparable to the uh
if it's a required year it doesn't have to be a wage comparable to the private sector so it could be you know a wage enough to for have someone to live on to eat and if uh if in fact
right right yeah
so i guess that it a lot of thinking would have to be done if it were implemented
well and it
right it
yeah uh yeah i guess uh basically i'm you know i'm in favor of uh of the idea but
um-hum
i think that uh like you said a lot of thought needs to go into it just uh the financing and and the the uh the yeah
how it's administered and how you know uh just the who uh who who would be exempted because i'm sure there would be exemptions to it
but uh
but uh you know medical service and uh uh aid aid you know or or assistance for families and uh
uh
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oh even uh even uh running the uh the prison system might be a you know
a a an area that could run could taken be taken care of
um-hum or even or even doing paperwork for a police systems you know
right uh there's any number of things that the government's involved in
that uh
um-hum yeah
that this service could take care of
homeless homeless and all
yeah
i think they're going to cut us off
well i think that's my call waiting line ringing whoever that is will probably call back
oh oh
yeah but i think you know in terms of the the the crime pressing problems in the United States today that in terms of the homeless in terms of the state of the the state of the prisons
um-hum
um there're there're probably a lot of things that could be done uh on a volunteer basis so maybe they should do pilot projects to try it out to see how it works
right
yeah
right and uh just to see what uh what all could be done yeah it's uh nice talking to you too okay bye-bye
yeah well listen it was good talking with you
okay bye-bye
