Self-study
P1
Opponents of compulsory national service claim that such a program is not in keeping with the liberal principles upon which Western democracies are founded. ███
Other people's (OP) perspective ·
Compulsory national service goes against liberal principles
Analogy for OP's perspective ·
Income tax is undemocratic because it violates property rights
Critique of OP's perspective ·
Context of community is basis of individual rights
Community requires shared sacrifice.
Application of community context to taxes ·
Taxes justified for protection of society
Without taxes, there's no law enforcement, which would deprive society of communal benefit.
P2
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Application of community context to national service ·
Compulsory service justified for protection of society
Responsibility to defend one's nation against outside enemies is just as important as responsibility to pay taxes to support law enforcement.
P3
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Potential rebuttal by OP ·
Taxes and national service are not analogous
Coercion isn't required to get people to join the army, but is required to get people to pay taxes. And, proponents of national service extend compulsory duties to things beyond defending the nation.
P4
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Response to potential rebuttal ·
OP admits that state can demand service when needed
The issue becomes the scope of the "need." Everyone agrees that taxes are appropriate for things besides national defense. So where's the line between what activities are beneficial enough for compulsory service and what's not?
Support for compulsory national service ·
Broad conception of "need" is justified
Passage Style
Critique or debate
4.
According to the author, national ███████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████
a
do not require ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████
Unsupported. In P3, the author presents a potential rebuttal to his argument which claims that taxation does require compulsion, while military service does not. The author himself never argues that neither one requires compulsion.
b
are at odds ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ █ █████████
Anti-supported. The author’s opponents think that taxation and compulsory national service violate individual rights. But the author thinks they’re consistent with individual rights in a democracy, since individual rights are found in the context of community, which requires shared sacrifice.
c
require different degrees ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ████████
Unsupported. The author says that community is the basis for individual rights and community requires shared sacrifice. But he doesn’t address whether certain citizens have to sacrifice more or less than others.
d
allow the government ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████
Anti-supported. We can see
e
serve ends beyond █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████
Supported. In P4, the author argues for a broader understanding of what is “necessary” for a community. Just as taxes can rightly fund beneficial programs that aren’t necessary for survival, he argues that compulsory national service can also serve beneficial purposes beyond just the state’s survival.