Amen!

While I agree with nation building in this country I object and it is also illegal for the use of the military in the US except in times of a national emergency. I am more for a required period of public service for people if they are physically and mentally able similar to what the CCC accomplished. The difference then was there was no jobs but if you have traveled by car you have probably seen some of the construction that was done during that period. Much of it by people who had little or no previous experience.

The use of the the military in the continental US is not permitted, I believe, for law enforcement other than as provided in an enumerated list of emergencies. Other activity (including work on infrastructure) is not limited, I'll cite the active work of the US Army Corps of Engineers throughout the US as an example.

I agree and have long thought that some kind of national service other than the military would be useful. There is Americorps and its Vista program (like a domestic Peace Corps). California also has a CCC equivalent but like Americorps, it's small and very underfunded. Many of these programs can serve like the military to give wandering/aimless young adults a chance to support themselves and grow up. Imagine what could be done if the exorbitant military budget were redirected to such programs to build infrasturcture. Another example of a project like this is Teach for America, which puts qualified college grads into teaching jobs to earn money and repay student loans. There are far more applicants than job openings and more money would help. TFA participants are often more academically accomplished and capable than teachers hired through the normal routes and many stay in the educational field.

I also agree completely about the CCC, essentially a jobs program during the depression of the 1930s. Besides a lot of work building facilities at national parks, CCC projects gave many communities buildings and other civil engineering works that are important and valuable to this day. As an example, there are many public structures and civic auditoriums all over the country built by the CCC.

We're not wasting billions and billions, we're ENRICHING the 'military-industrial complex'. How can that be wasteful?, he says sarcastically.

Oh, right. How could I forget? Can't deprive those making billions 'supplying' our military -- and anyone else with cash in hand. We wouldn't want to shortchange the companies running prisons. What would happen to their profits if we trained people to do well-paid work instead of locking them up because they have no job skills other than selling drugs?

I've never understood vilifying companies and businesses simply for conducting legal activities. In this case, defense contractors.

Florists exist because people want to buy flowers. Defense contractors exist because government agencies (sometimes Congress alone, sometimes together with the DoD) decide to spend money on goods and services for defense.

If you want to downsize the defense industry, you need to downsize the spending. There will always be sellers available for willing buyers and not otherwise.

There might be items in the Swiss model of militarism that would be beneficial to adopt. Centuries ago, the Swiss found themselves fighting against family members due to a quirk of cross agreements between various Kingdoms and countries. They vowed never again, and withdrew from all military agreements outside their country and decided never to make any more. They have been a neutral country since then.

(I am not certain in today's world, that we could be totally neutral.)

The Swiss do maintain an Army. Each Swiss male is required to do a term of military duty. However, their country does get some return from this action. After basic training, this body of manpower is used for civil projects similar to the US CCC projects in the 1930s. They are out there making and repairing trails in parks, road building and maintenance, etc.

jemdandy, I don't think the Swiss military model has any applicability here. As a rather small landlocked country completely surrounded by much larger neighbors, the sole function of the Swiss military is to repel an invasion of its borders. It's not mobile and has rarely been deployed externally.