No Mercy / No Malice: National Service

0:00:06 Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine.
0:00:15 Quantum computers, the next great frontier of technology, offering endless possibilities that stretch the human mind.
0:00:23 But for Roscoe Cadulian and the Phoenix Colony, quantum computing uploads the human mind with life-altering consequences.
0:00:34 Audible’s hit sci-fi thriller, The Downloaded, returns with Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser, reprising his role as Roscoe Cadulian in The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine.
0:00:41 This thought-provoking sequel from Robert J. Sawyer takes listeners on a captivating sci-fi journey.
0:00:47 A mind-bending must-listen that asks, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
0:00:53 The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible.
0:01:06 Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine.
0:01:09 The Earth only has a few days left.
0:01:15 Roscoe Cadulian and the rest of the Phoenix Colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer.
0:01:20 But a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.
0:01:29 Listen to Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Roscoe Cadulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster, The Downloaded.
0:01:35 It’s a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.
0:01:40 Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,
0:01:44 What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
0:01:50 The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible.
0:01:59 Support for this show comes from Odoo.
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0:02:42 I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:02:48 Mandatory National Service could help rebuild a shared American identity
0:02:52 while giving young people the opportunity to build themselves up.
0:02:55 National Service, as read by George Hahn.
0:03:09 An Office Hours listener asked what I’d say to President Trump if he invited me to the White House.
0:03:13 I’ve struggled my whole life with being right versus being effective.
0:03:17 So, as we’re meeting with the President, let’s focus on being effective.
0:03:21 We don’t have much common ground, but we’re both fathers.
0:03:22 Let’s start there.
0:03:26 As we’d likely have only a few minutes, we’d need to be focused.
0:03:28 One issue max.
0:03:30 The one thing I’d advocate for?
0:03:34 I’d make a case for mandatory national service,
0:03:40 as I believe that even the most polarized societies can find common ground when it comes to their children.
0:03:46 Yeah, I know the whole denying SNAP benefits to kids, but it’s my imaginary meeting, so just go with it.
0:03:54 I believe young Americans are fed up with a country they’re raised to love, but that doesn’t love them back.
0:04:03 Our spending priorities, entitlements, tax policies, capital gains and mortgage interest deductions,
0:04:13 and fiscal priorities, bailouts of incumbents, are the greatest transfer of wealth from young to old in history.
0:04:17 Old people have figured out a way to vote themselves more money,
0:04:22 And even if the younger generations aren’t good at it, they can do math.
0:04:32 The unemployment rate among 16 to 24-year-olds is 10.5 percent, the highest since the pandemic,
0:04:36 and, excluding that period, the highest since 2016.
0:04:45 Zoomers report feeling more lonely, depressed, and anxious, and less successful than other generations.
0:04:53 It doesn’t help that 200-plus times a day they receive notifications on their phone that they’re failing,
0:04:57 as their cohort vomits fake wealth and success onto them.
0:05:03 The most noxious emission in America isn’t carbon, but shame.
0:05:07 Young people aren’t facing one crisis, but a cascade of them.
0:05:13 And that’s made worse by adults, who enjoyed the shade of trees planted by others,
0:05:17 but are now clear-cutting forests meant for the next generation.
0:05:23 My parents belonged to the greatest generation.
0:05:30 Their collective sacrifice won World War II, while their sense of national identity, forged by service,
0:05:34 fueled the prosperity and progress of post-war America.
0:05:40 On Prof. G. Conversations, historian Heather Cox Richardson told me,
0:05:45 there was a very different sense of what it meant to be an American, then,
0:05:49 adding that people prided themselves not on how much money they made,
0:05:51 but how they took care of their communities.
0:05:56 Writing about the people who came of age in post-war America,
0:06:00 journalist Tom Wolfe coined the term the Me Generation.
0:06:06 Prosperity created what Tom Wolfe called the luxury of the self.
0:06:09 I know that luxury well.
0:06:11 I didn’t serve my country.
0:06:13 One of my great regrets.
0:06:16 Marketplace host Kai Rizdahl,
0:06:19 a contemporary and Navy veteran,
0:06:24 told me national service would transform America.
0:06:28 We don’t know each other anymore, he said.
0:06:30 It’s a generational thing.
0:06:33 At the end of Notes on Being a Man,
0:06:35 I close with a letter to my sons,
0:06:37 urging them to be patriots,
0:06:38 to vote,
0:06:39 pay taxes,
0:06:43 and be evangelists for America and its values.
0:06:47 I encourage them to give others the benefit of the doubt
0:06:48 and treat them with respect,
0:06:51 if only because they’re fellow Americans.
0:06:54 For my boys’ generation,
0:06:56 their fellow citizens are strangers.
0:06:59 Our connective tissue is fraying.
0:07:01 According to Gallup,
0:07:04 the youngest Americans are the least patriotic.
0:07:07 I believe mandatory national service
0:07:09 could help repair the damage
0:07:10 by encouraging young people
0:07:12 to see themselves as Americans,
0:07:13 first and foremost,
0:07:16 and to be proud of that identity.
0:07:20 National service in Singapore,
0:07:23 the most religiously diverse nation on earth,
0:07:25 is called School for the Nation
0:07:29 because of its ability to forge a national identity.
0:07:33 A study that looked at Singapore’s national service programs
0:07:37 concluded that socialization is a key mechanism
0:07:39 for transmitting norms and values,
0:07:42 while contact with people from different groups
0:07:43 reduces prejudice.
0:07:48 Those who serve in units that are housed together
0:07:51 were 17% less likely to close ranks
0:07:53 around their demographic group.
0:07:55 By comparison,
0:07:58 each year of education beyond secondary school
0:08:00 achieves the same effect,
0:08:01 but only by 2.5%.
0:08:05 In the U.S.,
0:08:07 6% of adults are veterans,
0:08:10 while active-duty service members
0:08:12 comprise less than 1% of all adults.
0:08:17 An estimated 64,000 young Americans
0:08:20 and an additional 200,000 seniors
0:08:23 volunteer for AmeriCorps,
0:08:25 the primary umbrella organization
0:08:27 for civilian service programs.
0:08:29 We have the programs,
0:08:31 but lack scale.
0:08:34 Still, we know what works.
0:08:37 Democratic Congressman Jason Crow,
0:08:38 an Army veteran,
0:08:41 favors expanding voluntary national service.
0:08:44 On Raging Moderates, he said,
0:08:47 when city kids get together with farm kids
0:08:49 and white, black, Asian, Latino,
0:08:50 straight, and gay people
0:08:51 roll up their sleeves
0:08:53 and build something together,
0:08:55 that creates a foxhole mentality
0:08:57 that breaks down barriers
0:08:58 and connects us.
0:09:01 The sentiment is bipartisan.
0:09:04 Republican Senator Bill Cassidy
0:09:06 has co-sponsored bills
0:09:07 to strengthen AmeriCorps
0:09:10 and provide tax relief to volunteers.
0:09:13 Republican Senator Todd Young
0:09:16 co-sponsored the Unity Through Service Act.
0:09:18 In 2016, candidate Trump
0:09:21 said there was something beautiful
0:09:22 about national service.
0:09:24 On that point, we agree.
0:09:27 Enlisting in the military
0:09:29 isn’t the only way to serve.
0:09:31 The U.S. has a long history
0:09:33 of civilian national service programs.
0:09:35 While the mission of each program varies,
0:09:36 while the mission of each program varies,
0:09:38 Congress has historically identified
0:09:40 two goals for national service,
0:09:43 meeting the needs of communities
0:09:45 and developing the capacities
0:09:47 and character of participants.
0:09:50 Under-investment in these programs
0:09:52 is an American tragedy.
0:09:56 As a 2018 NIH report put it,
0:10:03 higher levels of civic responsibility,
0:10:05 and overall life skills,
0:10:08 such as decision-making and time management,
0:10:12 are all associated with AmeriCorps participation.
0:10:17 We should ramp up AmeriCorps and define service broadly,
0:10:21 as our nation’s needs are as diverse as our people.
0:10:24 How young people serve,
0:10:25 being rural firefighters,
0:10:28 volunteering in a no-kill animal shelter,
0:10:29 helping seniors,
0:10:32 working in our national parks,
0:10:36 isn’t nearly as important as the service itself.
0:10:41 Budgets illuminate national priorities and values.
0:10:44 Our three largest expenditures,
0:10:45 Social Security,
0:10:46 Medicare,
0:10:49 and the interest on the debt,
0:10:51 are nearly half of the federal budget,
0:10:55 mostly benefiting the 18% of Americans
0:10:56 who are over 65.
0:11:00 The Department of Education and SNAP,
0:11:03 spending that overwhelmingly benefits
0:11:06 the 30% of Americans under 25,
0:11:11 register 4% and 1.5% of the budget, respectively.
0:11:14 To paraphrase Warren Buffett,
0:11:17 there’s a generational war in America,
0:11:19 and my generation is winning.
0:11:24 The D in democracy only works when wealthy,
0:11:26 i.e. old Americans,
0:11:29 elect even older Americans
0:11:32 who then vote themselves more money.
0:11:36 What if, instead of using the future
0:11:40 and children for rhetorical flourish,
0:11:42 we actually walked the walk
0:11:44 and invested in them.
0:11:47 A Brookings report estimated
0:11:51 that if we expand existing national service programs
0:11:53 to include 600,000 young people,
0:11:58 it would cost $19 billion per year.
0:12:02 Americans spent eight times that amount
0:12:03 on their pets last year.
0:12:08 Scaling up to include all 3.9 million members
0:12:10 of the high school class of 2025
0:12:14 would increase the cost to $123 billion.
0:12:17 That’s real money,
0:12:19 but it’s only about 17%
0:12:23 of our nearly $700 billion annual tax gap,
0:12:26 the difference between taxes owed
0:12:28 and taxes collected.
0:12:31 Expanding service opportunities
0:12:33 would also generate an estimated
0:12:37 17 times return on our investment,
0:12:39 according to a 2020 analysis
0:12:41 of AmeriCorps programs.
0:12:46 The benefits would be felt across society,
0:12:48 as participants would augment nonprofits
0:12:52 as well as state and local government initiatives.
0:12:54 Federal and local governments
0:12:56 would also benefit from programs
0:12:58 that address community challenges early,
0:13:01 lessening dependence on other government programs,
0:13:04 and reducing expenditures in criminal justice,
0:13:07 welfare, and public health.
0:13:08 Meanwhile,
0:13:12 people who complete a national service program
0:13:14 would enter college or the workforce
0:13:17 with more skills and greater confidence.
0:13:23 National service benefits everyone who serves,
0:13:26 but the benefits are likely more profound
0:13:27 for our boys,
0:13:30 a cohort that’s fallen farther and faster
0:13:32 than any other group in recent memory.
0:13:34 For boys,
0:13:37 physical development progresses more rapidly
0:13:39 than intellectual or emotional maturity.
0:13:42 My friend Richard Reeves
0:13:44 has argued in favor of red-shirting boys,
0:13:48 just as we hold back college athletes for a year
0:13:50 so they can develop further on the field.
0:13:54 A structured period of one or two years
0:13:55 after high school
0:13:57 would give boys the opportunity to mature
0:14:00 without the pressures of college or a career.
0:14:04 It would also give some a second chance.
0:14:09 Former IDF boss General Aviv Kohavi
0:14:10 called National Service
0:14:14 a societal take-two for young Israelis.
0:14:18 It doesn’t matter where you come from
0:14:19 or what your background is,
0:14:20 he wrote.
0:14:23 A mediocre pupil or youth
0:14:24 with a criminal past
0:14:26 who dropped out of school
0:14:27 can leave the past behind
0:14:29 and become an outstanding leader.
0:14:33 We should give the same opportunity
0:14:36 to every young person in America.
0:14:39 If we want our youth
0:14:42 to feel invested in their country,
0:14:46 then America needs to invest in its youth.
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