Government Cash Handouts
Last night, while camping outdoors, I couldn't sleep because there was this loudmouth in the next campsite talking to a small group of 18-22 year olds. It seemed like they were all a family. The loudmouth was maybe in his fifties, and was obviously extremely pro-Iraq war.
He was talking about the military, and about how one of the young men sitting there should enlist. The reason that he should enlist was because the military is offering a $15,000 sign-up bonus. That was the reason to enlist now.
And he was also saying that two of the young adults sitting there, should get married. The reason that they should get married is because the military offers a marriage bonus. That was his primary argument for marriage. NOT love, NOT family: it was money from the military.
I'd never heard anything like this before. And I don't suspect it's common. Or maybe it is. I don't know. But this guy was obviously more pro-military than perhaps everything else.
And I don't think the guy was in the military himself. He had heard all this about the military and he was saying it to the kids, in a way that was along the lines of, "if I were you, I would do it, because look at all the quick cash you'd get." He seemed to want to appeal to them and help them. I didn't get the feeling like he was a recruiter. They were all camping together.
This whole episode got me thinking, and I feel that this is certainly true: the most socialist institution in this country today is the military. But whom do we all hear denouncing socialists?! Isn’t it ironic? In the military, the will of the individual is thwarted. The government funds the military. Members of the military live in their own communities. The military passionately and selflessly follows the will of the state, as one. Military personnel are taught to be equal. And with incentives like these, heck, I seriously have to wonder how many 16-18 year old couples are thinking of getting married merely in order to collect a marriage bonus or whatever it is. Family values?
It saddens me, because similar incentives could be funded by the government, that would offer underprivileged people help to start businesses. Community initiatives like these have been severely cut by the Bush administration. It would be a worthwhile investment, in my opinion, if it were run well, and in a way that really worked.
While Sgt Loudmouth was giving his sermon, last night at about 11pm, I looked outside the tent, and saw an American flag hanging from their RV, so that it actually appeared behind the silhouettes of the seated campfire people. I kid you not. I’m telling you, it was truly something like a scene from a cheap movie. Bizarro.
The whole episode has me wondering if taxpayers should have to foot the extra bill to pay extra for these incentives to coax young, very (let's not kid ourselves) poor folks into enlisting into the military in order to serve in a war that has little rational appeal. Why the incentives? Why not pay experienced military personnel better? Why not treat those already in with more respect? Why are taxpayers paying extra to get young adults to enlist for something that the Bush administration has blundered so badly?
Why doesn't anyone point out that consipicuous looking uniforms and conspicuous looking vehicles belonging to a big unwieldy conventional military are going to be car-bombed and booby-trapped by desperate indistinguishable civilians? It's a lose-lose situation. My prediction is that it will drag on for years, and we'll pull out in disgrace. Unless the plan changes.
A big military is a socialist institution. Cash incentives make it even more so. We've heard over and over how cash handouts and redistribution of wealth doesn't work. I don't think that these particular types of cash handouts are very shrewd, either.
Giving tax money indescriminately to derelicts and hoping that they'll get their act will probably not work. Throwing money at poor kids to serve in Iraq, is the same sort of a socialist throwaway.
I'm for the government making investments, they just need to be smart investments.
He was talking about the military, and about how one of the young men sitting there should enlist. The reason that he should enlist was because the military is offering a $15,000 sign-up bonus. That was the reason to enlist now.
And he was also saying that two of the young adults sitting there, should get married. The reason that they should get married is because the military offers a marriage bonus. That was his primary argument for marriage. NOT love, NOT family: it was money from the military.
I'd never heard anything like this before. And I don't suspect it's common. Or maybe it is. I don't know. But this guy was obviously more pro-military than perhaps everything else.
And I don't think the guy was in the military himself. He had heard all this about the military and he was saying it to the kids, in a way that was along the lines of, "if I were you, I would do it, because look at all the quick cash you'd get." He seemed to want to appeal to them and help them. I didn't get the feeling like he was a recruiter. They were all camping together.
This whole episode got me thinking, and I feel that this is certainly true: the most socialist institution in this country today is the military. But whom do we all hear denouncing socialists?! Isn’t it ironic? In the military, the will of the individual is thwarted. The government funds the military. Members of the military live in their own communities. The military passionately and selflessly follows the will of the state, as one. Military personnel are taught to be equal. And with incentives like these, heck, I seriously have to wonder how many 16-18 year old couples are thinking of getting married merely in order to collect a marriage bonus or whatever it is. Family values?
It saddens me, because similar incentives could be funded by the government, that would offer underprivileged people help to start businesses. Community initiatives like these have been severely cut by the Bush administration. It would be a worthwhile investment, in my opinion, if it were run well, and in a way that really worked.
While Sgt Loudmouth was giving his sermon, last night at about 11pm, I looked outside the tent, and saw an American flag hanging from their RV, so that it actually appeared behind the silhouettes of the seated campfire people. I kid you not. I’m telling you, it was truly something like a scene from a cheap movie. Bizarro.
The whole episode has me wondering if taxpayers should have to foot the extra bill to pay extra for these incentives to coax young, very (let's not kid ourselves) poor folks into enlisting into the military in order to serve in a war that has little rational appeal. Why the incentives? Why not pay experienced military personnel better? Why not treat those already in with more respect? Why are taxpayers paying extra to get young adults to enlist for something that the Bush administration has blundered so badly?
Why doesn't anyone point out that consipicuous looking uniforms and conspicuous looking vehicles belonging to a big unwieldy conventional military are going to be car-bombed and booby-trapped by desperate indistinguishable civilians? It's a lose-lose situation. My prediction is that it will drag on for years, and we'll pull out in disgrace. Unless the plan changes.
A big military is a socialist institution. Cash incentives make it even more so. We've heard over and over how cash handouts and redistribution of wealth doesn't work. I don't think that these particular types of cash handouts are very shrewd, either.
Giving tax money indescriminately to derelicts and hoping that they'll get their act will probably not work. Throwing money at poor kids to serve in Iraq, is the same sort of a socialist throwaway.
I'm for the government making investments, they just need to be smart investments.
Labels: Musings
posted by Martin Lane at
9:10 PM
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