General Discussion

They had no choice, but it forced them to see how others lived, that there is a greater world outside their own rural area. My dad would never have been in Italy had it not been for WWII. Some of the older men that I grew up around, veterans, would never have traveled more than probably 100 miles from where they were born.

Consider how the Senate used to be, where senators of different parties would argue during the day, and then meet for dinner because they had a shared experience of the world. The contentiousness of the senate grew as the WWII veterans left and were replaced with younger people without that sharing.

In the recent past, there have been (short) discussions of some type of program of required service for young people, something along the lines of the CCC during the depression. It wouldn't need to be military, as in Switzerland, but like JFK's Peace Corp, or the (recently ended) AmeriCorps, some shared experience for all.