calculon said:
You support the mandatory subjugation of certain persons that they be forced to perform certain actions which they may or may not wish to perform?
In this case yes, to a certain extent (note this is an issue I'm not 100% on, I do however have a certain soft spot for it).
I judge the benefit to exceed the cost, clearly though you rate the infringement of personal/civil liberties as having an infinite cost hence nothing can justify it (economics can rationalise both sides of this lol
) - or can it? What is your limit? At what point does the benefit of infringing someones rights exceed the cost?
I point to the succesful national serice examples of swiss and israel particularly, however an important point needs to be made that I regard as reducing the benefit of national service and thus makes me somewhat loathe to suggest it (the MB, MC gap having either narrowed considerably or reversed because of it).
The point being that unlike Israel Australia does not exist under a state of seige were there a clear and present danger to Australia eg were we at war, or constantly facing the immenant danger of war then national service looks far more attractive. However we are not so the arguments that I can fall back on are:
Preparedness in case of war (unlikely as it may be),
Promotes social cohesion,
Creates a more effective emergency/disaster response force,
Engenders a better public response to emergency/disaster eg discipline not panic.
Teaches uselful skills that may translate across to the workforce,
Improves health/fitness levels (reducing load on health system).
Less morally scrupulously it enables Australians to compete in the international mercenary market.
The costs are:
Two years of lost income for conscripts (eg oppurtunity cost),
Somewhat intangible cost of infringed liberties,
Cost of paying conscripts,
Cost of restructuring the defence force,
Cost of equiping recruits,
Two years of lost taxes from conscripts,
Reduces the 18-22 labor force available to employers.
Clearly this is not a clear cut issue, and I recognise that it is increasingly unlikely (as memory of WWII fades and literally dies), furthermore I can't think of too many places which have democratically voted for national service in times of war let alone peace. However I have a soft spot for it and if I woke up tomorrow as benevolent dictator tomorrow it would be on the cards.
Summary: National Service in peace time has very close MC and MB (possibly even MC>MB) and it is highly unlikely to ever get off the ground democratically and/or in peace time. But I still like the potential it has.