Enslave the Elderly!
Every so often, the idea of some sort of mandatory “national service” program comes up. The basic concept involves young Americans being drafted into something resembling a domestic Peace Corps for a short while after completing high school. In a recent OpinionJournal article, Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy wonders why proponents of this questionable scheme only target the youthful:
“Indeed, the moral case for conscripting the elderly for civilian service is arguably stronger than that for drafting the young. Many elderly people are healthy enough to perform nonstrenuous forms of “national service.” Unlike the young, the elderly usually won’t have to postpone careers, marriage and educational opportunities to fulfill their forced-labor obligations. Moreover, the elderly, to a far greater extent than the young, are beneficiaries of massive government redistributive programs, such as Social Security and Medicare–programs that transfer enormous amounts of wealth from other age groups to themselves. Nonelderly poor people who receive welfare benefits are required to work (or at least be looking for work) under the 1996 welfare reform law; it stands to reason that the elderly (most of whom are far from poor) can be required to work for the vastly larger government benefits that they receive.”
Tireless foe of the draft that he was, Milton Friedman would be proud. You can read the rest of Somin’s piece here.
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