Pendulum

This country has swung back and forth so often and so predictably, and perhaps imperceptibly getting better each time, but it always makes one wonder if we shouldn’t, since we’re all in the same boat, be pulling in more of a unified direction.

And perhaps we are. George Will writes about socialism in America as a gift of, believe it or not, the Republican party, “a majority of whom in Congress supported a lavish farm bill at a time of record profits for the less than 2 percent of the American people-cum-corporations who farm -- and their administration were partially nationalizing the banking system, putting Detroit on the dole and looking around to see if some bit of what is smilingly called "the private sector" has been inadvertently left off the ever-expanding list of entities eligible for a bailout... The distribution of a trillion dollars by... the federal government -- will be nonpolitical? How could it be? Either markets allocate resources, or government -- meaning politics -- allocates them.”

If a sine qua non of socialism is the use of force (to redistribute taxpayer earnings to this or that lobbyist or cause), then both parties are indeed pulling in that direction.

But how about a slight change in direction?

The military Reserves are, in a sense, a socialist organization paid to protect a country that thinks of itself as capitalist. What saves the situation is that, instead of being forced into the Reserves by a draft, individuals are free to do so, or not. And the nation pays for that service with an abundance of benefits that actually make it a good deal for many people. All of which makes it a win-win scenario, or as Robert Wright writes, a nonzero-sum solution.

When a group of people freely pool their resources as in, say, the cohousing movement, they do not thereby become socialists. They simply put some real estate to its “highest and best use” for their purposes. Purposes such as living together well.

One of the planks in the Obama administration refers to creating jobs, and there is no shortage of jobs that need doing. There is the idea of a renewal and expansion of the Peace Corps or Teaching Corps with the same force as the military, able to project brigades or divisions to states suffering from natural disasters or inadequate education or crumbling infrastructure. The non-combatant areas of the military, such as the Medics and Corps of Engineers, could be utilized in areas needed by the country. Throwing a high-speed rail line across the US from fifty different starting points would be just as remarkable as the Liberty Ship program of WWII, and just as thrilling as getting the use of it.

What would be the motivation for someone to enlist in such a service? Sacrifice? Not likely. “You can’t fool all the people all the time”, and people on Main Street are tired of being called to sacrifice themselves while those on Wall Street laugh all the way to the bank, subsidized with the suckers’ tax dollars. Sacrifice is the last argument of a scoundrel.

Neither force nor sacrifice will get us where we want to go. But trade might.

Service in the reserves offers not only a GI bill that pays part of college expenses, a monthly stipend for duties as a teacher or medic or whatever, and after 20 years a small pension that cannot be raided. It offers as well: a no-money-down mortgage, medical benefits (a Naval clinic for teeth cleaning, VA hospitals for flu shots and the occasional colonoscopy, Tricare for Life paying what Medicare doesn't), PX and Commissary privileges, low-cost lodgings at bases around the world, and free flights to get to them, both on a space available basis.

All this for a minimum requirement of one weekend a month and a two-week camp once a year, which can be extended at the option of the individual for as long as his service is needed. The minimum required work amounts to only a bit over two years' service in all, a piddling amount really, but it leverages well for both morale and welfare. And the Reservists, who could come from any age group that had something to offer, would be worth the benefits - we do not bind the mouths of the kine that tread the grain.

Incidentally, the merging of citizens from different social strata in basic training is a great idea worth preserving, but good leadership is enough to get them there without re-instituting the draft. Most people are willing to work for this country in noncombatant jobs for a minimum of two days per month plus two weeks a year, doing needed work for the benefits offered. And doing it could mean re-opening a lot of bases, giving needed stimulus to local economies, to house those people on a rotating basis in what might be re-named "baracks".

New Orleans would be a good place to start.