The Era of National Services

Mort Kondrake ponders that a new "era of national service" might be upon us with the energized leadership and network of President Obama. This would dove-tail nicely with Larry Sabato's call for a Universal National Services (UNS) amendment to the Constitution. Of course this is a controversial call, because the typical cry from the far-Right that "this is an un-American imposition of government authority upon individual liberties" has predictably surfaced already. The din of the shrill would become nearly unbearable if and when a serious debate ever broke out on Sabato's proposal.

Rather, UNS is compatible with American notions of liberty if liberty is seen as freedom exercised within the context of responsibility and care for our neighbors and the "least of these," to use the scriptural phrase. Liberty practiced within a context of responsibility reinforces the other American values of life and the pursuit of happiness (property), as the young adults who go through a period of service to others will learn more about what it is to be a citizen of the United States and to be a human that gives to the world rather than taking from those around him or her. Additionally, the work of volunteers would benefit many people through direct help and improved infrastructure -- buildings, streets, freeways, forests, aid centers, homes, and various other property.