[speaker001:] Uh, you know, I, when I was much younger, uh, than I am now, I, I had wanted to go to the Peace Corps and, uh, it seems like I, it, it was something that I, I really wanted, wanted to do.
[speaker002:] Can you speak up, please.
[speaker001:] Seems like wanting to go to the Peace Corps was something that I had really wanted to do when I was young.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] But, uh, I don't believe they accept you after you, you know, after you're married and you have, uh, kids and all that so I got into,
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] that and then I wasn't able to, to, uh, participate.
[speaker002:] But they will accept you later in life also.
[speaker001:] Oh, they will?
[speaker002:] Yeah, after your children are grown.
[speaker001:] Oh, I didn't know that.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] Then there's no age limit?
[speaker002:] No.
[speaker001:] Your kidding. *typo -] you're
[speaker002:] No, I'm not. Some of the people that have been involved with Peace Corps, among other things, were retired teachers. Uh, there was a retired plumber that went to, uh, uh, Uruguay I think and helped them quite a bit with concepts in plumbing, you know, providing for a, for better public hygiene.
[speaker001:] Goodness I'm surprised. I really had no idea.
[speaker002:] Yeah, but, so, do you think that people should be required to give a couple years for the good of the country?
[speaker001:] Well, [breathing], I don't, I don't really think that they sh-, they should be, it should be mandatory. I mean,
[speaker002:] Why?
[speaker001:] [Breathing] well, I don't know, I, it's, that just might not be something that everybody wants to do, I mean, there are a lot of people who would like to do it, and there are a lot of people who get into other things and they get all involved and they just, you know, don't want to or don't have the time.
[speaker002:] Well, I understand, but if it were told to us that we would find the time somewhere between our seventeenth and, uh, twenty-sixth birthday to give a year or two to the, to the country in the form of maybe building better roads or the parks service or the Peace Corps or somet-, you know, the military service or something. Wouldn't we have, uh, maybe a better class of Americans?
[speaker001:] I don't see how that can, can make a better class of Americans to make everybody, to make it mandatory for everybody to participate.
[speaker002:] A lot of these peop-, a lot of our, uh, pardon the terminology, but yuppies, now, are interested in one thing and one thing only and that's themselves.
[speaker001:] That's true. Well, I don't, I don't think that,
[speaker002:] And at least if you legislated,
[speaker001:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker002:] giving for a couple years of their lives or, or, uh, a honestly purely giving but, but some sort of equitable exchange, then at least the country would have gotten two years from them where, um, they would have given something to the country instead of take, taking away all their lives.
[speaker001:] Yeah, are, are you suggesting then that if, if, uh, if I have to go and, and do something for the country for two years that the country will compensate me in some way.
[speaker002:] Uh,
[speaker001:] I, I will be compensated for this, I'm not just going to,
[speaker002:] Give them your ti-, give them your entire life for two years, no. * I think this really should be 2 slash units, with the respective labels.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] It will be a job of sorts, I'm sure, that the Peace Corps pays, it doesn't pay well, it's not top wages,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] but, but it does pay.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] The military, for young hiring in soldiers does pay, it doesn't pay well.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Okay, currently in our country, especially in some regions, there's an employment problem. You're aware of that I'm sure.
[speaker001:] That, that, that's true. But in, even in our region there's an employment problem. There's a lot of, uh, people gotten laid off lately. You know, from just companies like General Dynamics, and,
[speaker002:] And Texas Instruments.
[speaker001:] and Texas Instruments, [LAUGHTER]. Thousands, and thousands of people are out there looking for jobs.
[speaker002:] You know in, in another time we had the W P A,
[speaker001:] [Very faint], no, I'm not,
[speaker002:] Works Progress Administration,
[speaker001:] I'm not familiar with that.
[speaker002:] during the great depression,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] though I can't see why it was great.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Uh, that gave people pay that was halfway between relief which was welfare,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and the minimum wage.
[speaker001:] I see, and that was, that was simi-, that was some, some program where people gave their time,
[speaker002:] In trade for,
[speaker001:] in trade for,
[speaker002:] money,
[speaker001:] [very faint] for money, okay.
[speaker002:] and, and living.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] They gave them food and uniforms and,
[speaker001:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker002:] uh, here in Colorado you'll find a great many things. Public roads that were worked on by the W P A, uh, dams that were built by the W P A,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, scenic overlooks, parks,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] We are road, our road system's falling apart. Our air-, our national road system, system of highways,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and roads, is falling apart.
[speaker001:] Well, then I guess there are a lot of, a lot of things that people could do to contribute to the good of the country.
[speaker002:] Ther-, there's a lot of work to be done.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. I, I really don't see anything wrong with it, I just don't think that it should be mandatory that every person have to do that.
[speaker002:] I, I can't see the problem in it for a year. Th-,
[speaker001:] Well,
[speaker002:] what, what I'm saying is that if it were mandatory,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that every person, right after graduation from high school,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that were able-bodied,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] would give a year, well, or, not give a year but, but trade a year, then they, at least one not more than say three or four, then it would definitely effect unemployment.
[speaker001:] All right, I wonder if, if they didn't make it mandatory if they would actually get enough people volunteering to, to do it that it, you know, that they would have enough.
[speaker002:] I don't know.
[speaker001:] I mean, I, I'd probably,
[speaker002:] Well, you know, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, huge numbers of other western states, have no real welfare system.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] There's Aid to Dependent Children, and Aid to Mothers of Dependent Children, but there's no real welfare system.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] But if we took these people off, off the streets for a year, there would darn sure be more hours labor available in the nation for everyone else. And who knows, maybe some of our graduating high school seniors would find out a little bit more of th-, what the traditional American work ethic means. You know, we have had some problem with that in recent years.
[speaker001:] Oh, well, yes, we have. With, with, uh, recent generations I, I know exactly what you are talking about, I, I mean, I know several people who do not wish to work.
[speaker002:] Uh, they wish only for the paycheck.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Well, they wish for the money and they, they decide that they're going to get the money anyway they can with, you know, without, uh,
[speaker002:] Really producing.
[speaker001:] without, without working in the, the traditional American job market.
[speaker002:] Yeah, be it selling drugs or whatever.
[speaker001:] Right. So, one other thing, and they, they get the money anyway they can.
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah. And maybe if we instilled the work ethic, you know, I enjoy the, I enjoy working.
[speaker001:] Yeah.