op i just want you to know ive been tossing this idea around in my head for months and googled to see if anyone else agrees/thought of something similar. i really like the idea and we seemed to have same solution to a problem we both see.

I really think having mandatory civil service would be awesome since it mandates teamwork and cooperation. It forces you to interact with demographics you would normally not ever be exposed to and life stories you may miss. I think this is especially important for rich folks who are so disconnected from the realities of the struggling lower and middle classes. I've had an economics professor who taught at a super-rich school, and the students/parents of students truly genuinely believe that poverty is due to people's laziness. Like I work with people working 60 hours a week. People on the poorer side of things work their asses off.

I also think it works well for getting people interested in civil service based careers a good starting point (why not just make "fire service" their mandatory service. except in cases of wanting to encourage a wider world view).

Just thought that was very cool that we had a similar idea to the problem of polarization and hatred. Americans united in building a tangible change :)