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Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 |
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Citizenship is not free, freedom at a cost
HUGH HILL
If the attacks of September 11 make one thing eminently
clear, it is
the debt we owe to those who serve our great nation. These men and
women, many of whom risk their lives, work to protect and preserve our
liberty and way of life. Their work guarantees the privileges and
benefits we enjoy as American citizens. Yet we do not value their work.
Careers in the military or government are seen as second-rate choices.
The majority of us, come election time, do not even fulfill our
obligations as citizens. Jury duty and other forms of civic obligation
are looked down upon and shirked whenever possible. We clearly do not
value our place as citizens of the United States.
The answer to this problem lies in universal national service
as a
condition of citizenship. If every American had to devote two years of
their life to serving our country, we might then appreciate our place
as citizens a little more. I am not proposing universal military
service, though there is absolutely nothing wrong with honorable
service in the world's greatest armed forces. What I am proposing is
everyone spending two years of their life serving our nation in some
capacity or the other.
This could come in many forms. Not just the obvious international
forms
like the military or Peace Corps, but in more domestic capacities as
well. Our current Teach for America and Americorps are wonderful
examples, but we can go even farther. The Kennedy-era Vista program or,
to hark back even farther, the New Deal programs like the Civilian
Conservation Corps or the Federal Writers Project could serve as models
for national service programs.
The real benefit would not only be in the work actually
done, but also
what it would do for those required to serve. They would gain the
understanding that what we have in America is not free. That the
privileges we enjoy come at a cost. Civic responsibility and national
pride would be increased. Currently, a career in the military or other
form of national service is seen as an impediment in the career world.
By implementing this system, we would reverse that trend, ensuring that
national service could never harm one's future prospects.
Another model we could propose would be to remove the universal
element
and make citizenship contingent on national service. This would reserve
the privilege of citizenship for those who really want it and
understand the obligations it entails. While the benefits would be
limited to those who serve, this would create a solid, motivated base
of citizenship. On the other hand, it would lead to a division in our
society that is a little too undemocratic for the American character,
hence the desirability of the universal element.
Universal National Service is a concept that has been around
since the
Truman administration, yet its time is now. In our increasingly
fragmented and factional world, Americans need to know what our
country is about. Daily we move farther and farther away from President
Kennedy's famous injunction to "ask not what your country can do
for
you but what you can do for your country." By giving two years of
our
lives to our nation, we would be helping to make our nation a greater
place, and our a citizens a greater people.