The Moral Equivalent of War

06/19/2008 01:53:38 PM EST by rgoodwin in Action Network Forum

“Patriotic pride and ambition in their military form are, after all, only specifications of a more general competitive passion. They are its first form, but that is no reason for supposing them to be its last form.”
-William James, 1906

Capitalizing on the political unity and patriotism that arises immediately following a national disaster, crisis or war is typically easy; the bigger challenge arises when we try to prolong this sense of national unity.  In the absence of a national threat what do we as Americans unite around? It seems that if there is no immediate war-like threat, we as Americans loose this patriotism.  In the words of The Righteous Brothers we begin to lose “that loving feeling”   The question is how can we foster “that loving feeling,” that feeling of social unity, in the absence of a threat?

Creating American Volunteerism

06/19/2008 01:50:39 PM EST by rgoodwin in Action Network Forum

The idea that America was created as a participatory republic has been ingrained in all of us since our elementary years when we were taught the pledge of allegiance, learned the symbolism behind the American flag and slowly began to understand the sacrifices our forefathers made.  It seems that while we admire the aura of duty and patriotism surrounding the likes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson however a new sense of these terms has evolved.  Duty now tends to mean paying your taxes on time and making feeble attempts to vote in November.  Patriotism has evolved into an American flag bumper sticker on a gas guzzling SUV.

America now, however, faces new challenges, ones that our forefathers probably couldn’t have imagined.  Challenges that include: crises in our health care system which continual fails the neediest Americans; global climate change which poses a threat to our entire lifestyle; and the failure of our schools to provide an equal education to all children.  Recent events such as Hurricane Katrina have proven that policy and politics are no longer a solution to America’s problems and that it may be time for a more revolutionary change in American culture.  New challenges require innovative, new solutions.

The idea that National Service could serve as a new form of duty, of patriotism, a solution to the new problems seen across our country is an innovative solution.  The policy proposed by numerous National Service advocates that includes expanding national service to a universal element, one in which every American participates, in numerous different subject areas.  This expansion would include creating an education corps, a green corps, a health corps, a rapid response corps, and a summer service corps for young teens.  All of these genres would create programs in which all Americans could join.

Expanding National Service will not only provide solutions to current problems within American society but it will also allow the American community to unite around the idea that volunteerism is integral to a safe, healthy, productive society.  Expanding National Service programs will create a new American sub-culture, one that revolves around ideas of service, aid and volunteerism.  The creation of new corps, and programs will allow more people to get involved, it will allow volunteerism and service to become not just simply a sole service project, but a lifestyle and a right of passage for young Americans.

Not only will the expansion of National Service programs create a new cultural phenomenon, but it will create a new sense of what it means to be American.  A new sense of “we” will develop if Americans are asked to invest their time in their communities; new bonds will form tying the American community together on the basis of service.  What would our communities be like if we express our patriotism by volunteering at an elementary school as a tutor, or working to clean a polluted water way with underprivileged children?  The expansion of National Service will ensure that opportunities like these will be available to all Americans, in doing so we can encourage service as a new form of patriotism, a new duty to our country.