- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Sign of an open mind.

Posted by: MDG on February 01, 19100 at 10:35:37:

In Reply to: A historic first posted by David on January 30, 19100 at 20:34:55:

: : I have another idea: the crappy miserable jobs, like picking grapes or cleaning toilets, should be the work of young people, done either for school credit or college money (public grants) while they're in high school or after high school, before college. It would be universal service, akin to the military. Why young people? First off, the crappy jobs tend to be physical in nature, and young people can handle that sort of work better; secondly, seniority has its privileges, and older folk can listen to the young folk complain about cleaning crappy latrines and say, "Don't worry, we survived it, and you will too." Young people party harder than older people, so when they get off their crappy shift, they can shake it off more easily. Also, young people don't yet have families, added responsibilities, and the world weariness of older people, in other words, less stress, so doing the scut work won't take as much a mental toll on them. Furthermore, doing scut work will integrate them into the adult world of work, not the school -- and school age people -- they've known all their lives. Also, doing scut work will hopefully help them appreciate the greater opportunities they'll be given down the road, i.e. college/vocational school/grad school.

: Wow MDG, for once I find myself agreeing with you completely. Although I am opposed to socialism of all forms, this seems to me the best way to implement it. If the revolution struck and I was "reeductated" than I would prefer this sort of system.

Thanks, David, but I'd be even happier if you considered that socialism can offer good things, as well as bad (same with capitalism). For instance, I believe that nationalized health care would be a good thing, and it's wrong to dismiss it out of hand simply because it may be considered socialistic; if it works best, who gives a damn what label it falls under?

Our task is to choose the best of what's out there and make the best possible system, and labels be damned. We can and ought to work together toward the common good.



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