In this week's Newsweek, Jonathan Alter warns President-elect Obama: "Don't muffle the call to serve." With all the concern about the economy and all the attention on the
economic stimulus package, one has to wonder if Obama's call to public service will remain a top priority.
Alter writes:
"...the dreams of the Obama Generation are in danger of being deferred even
before their man takes office. The economists confronting the present
crisis apparently don't have a lot of time for programs like AmeriCorps,
which uses a network of local and national nonprofits to employ 75,000
mostly young Americans to teach kids to read, to run after-school
programs, to build affordable housing, to clean parks and streams,
among many other service projects. The brainiacs aren't sure these
do-gooders are relevant to recovery. They're wrong about that, in more
ways than one."
Alter is right, national
service programs are "people-ready" and should be considered an
essential part of our national infrastructure. But it is unfortunate that he focuses only on the programs offered by AmeriCorps,
without mentioning the need to recruit and retain a new generation of
young people to go into government work as a career,
not simply as a short-term, volunteer affair. The renewed interest in
government - more than 300,000 people have applied for administration
jobs - gives Obama the opportunity to build a lasting institution
focused on developing top-notch public servants for generations to
come: the Public Service Academy.
The Academy will endure long after
the inaugural excitement fades and can stand as Obama's lasting legacy
in service, much the way that the Peace Corps remains a testament to
President Kennedy's call to serve. It would be too bad if Obama were to
let this opportunity pass.
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