In 1990 William F. Buckley Jr. published a wonderful little book called "Gratitude," in which he made the case for a broad program of national service. His argument, laid out in the chapter "The Patrimony and Civic Obligation," is compelling. Those of us lucky enough to live in the United States are the beneficiaries of a cultural inheritance that is impossible to fully reckon and that gives us enormous advantages - from the laws and institutions built over generations that allow free people to prosper, to the music we enjoy. To Buckley, it is vital that citizens acknowledge this debt...