A Time to Heed the Call
By David Gergen--U.S. News & World Report, 12/24/2001, 131(26) p. 60, 877 words.

Leaving church on a Sunday several weeks ago, Seth Moulton posed a haunting question. Moulton is a clean-cut, good-looking young guy who graduated from Harvard last spring and represented his class as commencement speaker. "I have been planning to go to Wall Street for a while," he said, "Now with what's happened, I think I should give some time to the country. But tell me: Where should I sign up?"

Since September 11, a surge in patriotic sentiment has prompted thousands of others to ask themselves similar questions. People want to help and are trying to figure out how. Some 81 percent recently told surveyors from the firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates they would like the federal government to encourage increased community and national service. They strongly support college scholarships, similar to the GI Bill, for young people who serve as police officers, firefighters, or civil-defense workers, and they favor a dramatic expansion of the national service program.

So far, our political leaders have rightly focused on battling terrorists overseas, giving only scant attention to creating a new culture of service at home. But their very successes against Osama bin Laden are opening a second phase in this struggle. We now have a chance to step back and think longer term. How do we transform this new love of nation into a lasting mission? How do we keep the flame alive? With imagination, we could do just that if we boldly call millions of young Americans to give at least a year of service to the nation. Remember FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps and the magnificent parks all those young people built in the wilderness? There are many parallel responsibilities today. Beefing up border operations, teaching kids in poor schools, helping out in hospitals--those are just a few. Add three months of physical training, with kids from Brooklyn mixing in with kids from Berkeley, and the results would be eye popping.

Giving something back. Voluntary service when young often changes people for life. They learn to give their fair share. Some 60 percent of alumni from Teach for America, a marvelous program, now work full time in education, and many others remain deeply involved in social change. Mark Levine, for example, has started two community-owned credit unions in Washington Heights, N.Y., for recent immigrants. Alumni of City Year, another terrific program, vote at twice the rates of their peers. Or think of the Peace Corps alumni. Six now serve in the House of Representatives, one (Christopher Dodd) in the Senate.

A culture of service might also help reverse the trend among many young people to shun politics and public affairs. Presidential voting among 18-to-29-year-olds has fallen over the past three decades from half to less than a third. In a famous poll of a year ago, some 47 percent said their regular source of political news was the late-night comedy shows. If the young were to sign up for national service, as scholar Bill Galston argues, that could lead to greater civic engagement.

President Bush clearly supports the idea. What is lacking, though, is a clarion call, a "certain trumpet" that breaks through, along with a sweeping plan for action. The best plan on offer today is one advanced by Sens. John McCain of Arizona, a Republican, and Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana and given strong support by the Democratic Leadership Council. It would build on AmeriCorps, the volunteer program started by President Clinton, at first opposed and now embraced by many Republicans. AmeriCorps has achieved significant results but remains modest in size with about 50,000 volunteers. It has never enjoyed the panache of the Peace Corps--as many as 2 out of 3 Americans say they have never heard of the program. McCain and Bayh would expand AmeriCorps fivefold, to 250,000 volunteers a year, and channel half the new recruits into homeland-security efforts. The program would also open up more chances for seniors to serve--another important contribution.

With support from the president, this bill would become one of the first major accomplishments of Congress next year. Interest has been spiraling upward in recent weeks. Some oppose it because they would like all volunteer service to be directed to homeland security. That is a mistake. Our schools are as important to our future as are border patrols. Others dismiss voluntary service as patriotism on the cheap; they would like to see a full-scale restoration of the draft, providing manpower for both military and civilian purposes. There are powerful arguments for a universal draft, but the public isn't ready for that yet. It would be wiser to start here . . . and now.

September 11 was a seminal moment for America. Everyone who lived through it will remember exactly where he or she was when the terrible news came. But the moment will pass unless we seize it and give it more permanent meaning. Fortunately, some already hear the call. Leaving church on Sunday last, Seth Moulton said he had made his choice: He has volunteered for four years in the United States Marines. Now, let the trumpet sound for the rest of his generation.

Copyright 2001 U.S. News & World Report, L.P. Reprinted with permission.