I'm surprised nobody has responded to the meat of your posts...
How much free time should the gov't allow, say, for each age group?
How effective is conscription and forced labor in, say, nursing, in "maturing" our youth compared to what's done now?
What will be the effect of the mass socialization you aspire to, where the gov't hacks assign jobs to people. How does this effect those who previously chose that profession but are now unemployed because of the taxation-paid-for labor ran them out of a job?
How does forcing me to pay for services via income tax improve the budget deficit? Is it because the gov't *this time* will improve on the free market, for the first time in history?
Will the gov't-caused misallocation of labor and the resultant layoffs in previously higher-paying jobs for jobs in which no tax is paid but rather they are paid for in tax help the gov't coffers or hinder them?
I think your massive socialization idea has been tried before, for example, USSR.
Gov't intervention will only make this worse. Your preferred massive expansion of the federal gov't will make things much worse.
Everybody has life lessons in which they mature -- just because your choice was forced on you doesn't mean the choices people made for themselves weren't as good or better. That kind of gov't paternalism is rampant, and I'll be oh so sorry to see it expanded in the nafarious way you describe.
Volunteerism *is* good as you describe, and should be promoted on the family level, school level, and community level. My wife and I work on this with our own teenaged son (who has very little free time, in opposition to your stereotype) and I have no doubt that our own influence is more effective with our own son than is possible in any way shape or form if coming a political agenda-oriented civil servant. I will continue to fight attempts at parenting by Big Brother, no matter how good it makes those feel who simply cannot parent or cannot take responsibility for their own lives & personal growth. |
