Self, Nation, Service - In

Self, Nation, Service - In the past, I've written about the notion of National Service - the concept of citizens spending six months to a year in the military (or some similar national or civil defense job), and then serving in the reserves for some period (in Switzerland, it's from 21 to 50 years of age).

There's more commentary on this issue lately: Nicholas Provenzo writes in Initium last week, dissenting from the idea. He makes the usual points, all good ones. Here's an important one:

So why then do many conservatives support something that is tantamount to part-time slavery?

Question for people like Provenzo and Jason Lewis: Is jury duty "part time slavery?" Or is it something that citizens in this country do to provide each other with a basic right, a jury trial?

Obviously, in a conservative, capitalist system the primary motivation is and should be enlightened self-interest. Altruism - sacrifice of one's self for others - is a great thing, but purely voluntary (as Provenzo says).

But just as sitting on a jury for a week every four years is less "slavery" than something we do as citizens to help support one of our founding ideals, national military service (NOT the draft) protects our "liberty and property" as well as everyone else's (and, by extension, everyone else is doing the same). It's not pure self-interest - but it's not slavery, either.

There are reasons to oppose national service. The best are military.

Posted by Mitch at December 8, 2002 01:07 PM