Working for the society should be a civic duty

Human societies developed to increase the survivability of individual through collective action towards common goals. Everybody had to chip in. Everybody had to pull their weight.

This is now forgotten. Societies have become playgrounds for extreme individualists who demand the safety and comforts of the collective while doing everything to avoid having to participate in the effort to build and maintain it. Public work is scorned and ridiculed while greedy individualism has been made into a virtue.

This attitude needs to be corrected. I propose that in the future all capable young adults are required to take a public office, work in public services (e.g. low-level assistants in health, handicap or elderly care), serve in the military, or do manual labor like maintaining the interstate network for a couple of years, before becoming eligible for other jobs and a full set of civil rights (e.g. voting).

This will give every citizen a better understanding of the real needs of the weakest members of the society (empathy), contributes to better availability of public services and helps to maintain the essential core functions of the society (transportation, health care, defense). There should not be an option for anyone to buy him/herself out of this duty. The job assignments will also be handed out in a blind fashion based on the raw abilities of the young adult. This way the parents who are rich or know powerful people won't be able to influence the decision.

This will be true social justice and will really improve the morality, empathy and understanding in society.