Political stuff? Just life stuff? Thoughts stuff?

Don't worry, I wont be posting too many things like this... then again, maybe?

I was going to post this in a Facebook thread, then figured it would be pointless... but so I don't lose it, I present my idea here, on my blog, using it for what it was meant to be used for, to give you a glimpse into my personal life.

The set up was that Doug Tennapel posted this quote from Benjamin Franklin: ‎"For my own part, I am not so well satisfied of the goodness of this thing. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. -- I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." - Ben Franklin, plagiarised by Romney"

First, I joked "Franklin was a lightning rod, but never a President...", then I thought about it (because I mostly believe what Franklin wrote) and wanted to say....

"I do not think most men (or women) when confronted with troubles in their lives would prefer free money over money they work for. As someone who was out of work for 2 years, I mean ZERO income for two years, I took unemployment for a couple months (4 months out of 24) and it made me feel horrible. I would have been much happier if there was a community service element to the check coming in. Working, even a few hours digging ditches or cleaning trash, is preferable to sitting at home, feeling like less of a man...

That said, I feel that universal healthcare is not the same as taking unemployment or welfare. One is to soothe the pains of not having work, the other is to keep the American people healthy and ready to fight and work. Theodore Roosevelt believed that all Americans had the right to have an even playing field in life, that meant health and education, after that? May the better man win.

Also, I believe that while many countries have mandatory military, we should institute mandatory Civil Service/Community Service. 1-2 years, maybe mostly weekends. It would mix people up a bit more and get them involved/invested in their neighborhoods, states, and the nation as a whole."