One of the things that seems to me to have been lost these
days is the rather obvious connection between rights and responsibilities. I
would argue that there are no rights without corresponding responsibilities.
That one has no right to ask something from a community unless one is also
willing to contribute more or less equally to the community. That freeloading
on the generosity of others is not a concept that works in the long run, either
for the freeloader or for the community.
So along those lines let me suggest some ideas. First, for those in the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth
Warren wing of the Democratic Party who propose things like free college for
all, free medical care for all, and perhaps even a government issued basic
income, what do they expect the recipients to give back to the nation in
return?
Our nation is currently defended by a military made up of
less than 1% of the population. Perhaps like Israel and Switzerland we ought to
expect everyone who receives these “free” benefits to give two or three years
of their lives in service to their country (with equivalent CCC-like civilian
alternatives for those who are religiously opposed to being in the military). It is true that the military has become so
complex that only professionals can do the more technical jobs, but there is still
plenty of “grunt work” as well that even a relatively untrained civilian can do,
or be quickly trained to do.
And for those on the right wing who believe so strongly in
the benefits of free enterprise, how about a system where those of us who have
benefitted handsomely from free enterprise be expected to give X hours per week
to unpaid service work to the community – including even (or especially)
overpaid senior managers and CEOs. There
are plenty of community projects that could use experienced free help. Yes, I know some of these overpaid people
give handsomely of their money to charity, but money is cheap for them. Their
time and experience is what is really precious, and that is what they ought to
be donating as well.
It has in the past been one of the strengths of our nation
that culturally we expected to take responsibility for our communities. It
seems to me that has eroded into a greedy, self-centered “me generation”, and that we need to get back
to the concept that we each give to the community as well as get from it, as a
way of ensuring the long-term health of our nation and communities.
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