Posted on 01/18/2009 12:14:09 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Thirty years ago, future U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford led the committee that concluded that year-long mandatory civilian-service programs were politically infeasible. Wofford, however, did not give up on the idea. And as the nation prepares to mark tomorrow's annual Martin Luther King Day of Service, maybe what was infeasible then is workable today.
What's changed? The economy, for one thing. Consider City Year.
City Year corps members, young adults ages 17 to 24, volunteer for a year of service in cities throughout the country - usually in public schools - and receive a college scholarship in return. It was described to me as an "urban Peace Corps" by David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast, which is a community partner of City Year.
Cohen also told me something else of interest. With the economy in the tank, and the end nowhere in sight, City Year has seen its applications increase threefold in the last year. Which got me thinking.
Maybe our economy would be well-served using a portion of the $800 billion-plus recovery package for mandatory service programs.
We know that the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December, and the biggest jump came among workers ages 16 to 19. Their jobless rate is 20.8 percent, up from 16.9 percent in December 2007. The rate among 20- to 24-year-olds is 12.1 percent (it was 9.2 percent the year before). By comparison, 6 percent of workers ages 25 to 54 are out of work today.
Granted, the unemployment rate for younger workers is traditionally higher than that of the rest of the workforce. But we don't have to ignore its continued rise, especially when there is a worthwhile alternative.
Here's what else we know: Time magazine reported that more than 61 million Americans accounted for 8.1 billion volunteer hours in 2006 - numbers that have been on a steady rise for 20 years.
Long before he was president-elect, Barack Obama advocated expanding AmeriCorps and doubling the Peace Corps. "This will be a cause of my presidency," he said back when the unemployment rate was a relatively tame 4.9 percent. John McCain, a man who knows something about service, has struck similar notes.
Then, there's the e-mail I received last week from Arianna Huffington, who is urging her Huffington Post network of bloggers and pundits to "leverage your following" by signing on for a specific commitment of service and urging readers, viewers and listeners to do the same via a newly developed Facebook application.
The point? Many young people need jobs, the nation is buzzing with calls to service, and Americans are willing to listen. So why not up the ante by offering service programs backed by the federal government?
Many years after initiating this discussion, Wofford shared with me his current vision for how it might work:
"I want to see a year or more of full-time, active-duty citizen service, either in the military or civilian service, become a common expectation of young people, and favor a system of universal registration at age 18, with a lottery draft to fill the needs of the armed forces if voluntary recruitment is not adequate, but with a civilian-service option for anyone whose number is called," he told me this week.
If you want to serve the country in the armed forces, that's an honorable choice. But if not, how about something like City Year?
Not a fan of universal registration - especially as it applies to community service? Let's insert an economic quid pro quo into the equation. Tying service to college loans is one proposal.
I also like the idea of granting each American baby a sum of money to remain untouched (and earn interest) until he or she turns 18 or 20 years old. If the young adult fulfills a year of service in the military or an organization such as Teach for America or City Year, he or she can access the fund to help pay for college or start a business. If not, the federal government gets it back.
That way, the program isn't mandatory. But it is more viable - for both the country and its citizens.
And given the state of the economy - and, perhaps more significantly, the pessimism it pushes out into America via newspapers, radios and television - we can use all the viability we can get.
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Michael Smerconish's column appears Thursdays in the Daily News and Sundays in Currents. He can be heard from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays on "The Big Talker," WPHT-AM (1210). Contact him via www.mastalk.com.
Well, after all, during our Great Depression, Stalin's Soviet Union was averaging over 5% annual GNP growth (with full employment to boot) thanks to 'mandatory service programs'.
/do I really need a sarc tag here?
Is it possible for people to be *this stupid* and continue breathing on their own? Boggles the mind ...
Tyranny. Pure and simple.
I have a better idea: Let all the Obama supporters volunteer for the rest of their useless lives, and leave the rest of us alone.
If the goverment forces people to volunteer, then the lessons learned from volunteering would be lost.
People who volunteer do it, for the most part, because they want to better the lives of others and in doing so makes thier own life better.
Forcing kids to volunteer would be like making them eat thier veggies. It may be good for them but they will resent you forcing them and wont touch them when they are adults.
I have always supported mandatory military service, but it should be for all with no outs, except for the mentally and physically unfit that excludes the fake medicals of the past!!
Ok, fine, but if you collectivists want “universal service”, you first have to show you have served in some capacity; and that includes this guy Smerconish and even his Lordship, The One. Prove participation in the military, Peace Corps, Americorp, or some such, or dummy up.
“Maybe our economy would be well-served using a portion of the $800 billion-plus recovery package for mandatory service programs.”
Bull-honky. Poor economic times means it’s all the more important that we not waste labor in unproductive fields. Economics is all about directing our scarce resources towards their most productive use, you unbelievable moron.
When he announced in November that he was proudly going to vote for 0, that’s when I stopped listening to him.
But, The Beloved One was a community organizer, doesn't that count for something?
Brownshirt support services?
SLAVERY
That is, for every barakracy utterance maligning our Republic during "training" for the civilian "service" a counterpoint stating the truth about the United States of America must be presented.
Tying service to college loans is one proposal.
What's wrong with the old days where good paying and proud occupations involving manual dexterity did not require that
1) you did not know how to speak English and
2) that you had no respect for our laws?
Yes, perhaps a little too sarcastic. Guilty.
What, you mean you aren't a 3rd generation welfare recipient who has to go back 50 years to find a married ancestor?
I know Obama supporters, and you sir, are no Obama supporter...
Isn’t it ironic that Obama didn’t even register for selective service and now he going to require it for all of the rest of us, “because it’s the right thing to do”.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/11/exclusive_did_n.html
“I always hated how this sort of crap was called ‘giving back.’ Exactly what did I take from ‘the community’ that merits me ‘giving back?’”
If you took anything, it was from your parents. And you don’t have to pay them back, since their reward is you living a happy life. Everything else you got from the market, which was already paid for, or from the state. Either you’ll repay the state in taxes, or they won’t deamnd anything back anyway.
I was just wondering how many of these "volunteers" I'm eventually going to have to shoot.
Now that I find out I’m righthanded and left eye dominant, I’ll be spending my time finally learning to be a marksman (a left handed one as it turns out). That and working towards creating a virtual Gault’s Gulch.
I’m not against this if they’ll take Inner City Youth, clean them up, teach them manners, and groom them for higher education, employment, etc.
I don’t agree with just taking ANY child into this type program. High School Drop Outs, City kids with Misdemeanors, etc, could benefit from some “pre military” type training.
BUT NOT IF THEY’RE BEING GROOMED TO BE OBAMA’S BROWN SHIRTS.
“Well, after all, during our Great Depression, Stalin’s Soviet Union was averaging over 5% annual GNP growth (with full employment to boot) thanks to ‘mandatory service programs’.”
mandatory service/slave labor, tomato/to-mah-to.
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