From the Chronicle of Higher Education

MAGAZINES & JOURNALS

A glance at the March issue of "The Washington Monthly":
The quiet demise of national service

Richard Just, editor of "The American Prospect Online," examines
why President Bush's post-September 11 plan to expand civilian
national service has not been realized.

The president's proposal, which called on all citizens to serve
and which sought to "increase the ranks of groups such as
AmeriCorps by 200,000 people," was praised in 2002 by his
supporters and critics alike. Yet one year later, "AmeriCorps
went unauthorized for a fifth straight year," and "Bush's
national-service bill never even made it to the floor of
Congress," Mr. Just writes. "How is it that an issue championed
by a popular wartime president, favored by the vast majority of
Americans, and supported by both parties has floundered so
badly?"

One reason is that some House Republicans, led by the former
majority leader Richard K. Armey, "derided it as an example of
costly, unnecessary government bureaucracy" and tried to kill
it, he argues. In addition, national service "enjoys broad
support but has few vocal advocates," Mr. Just writes. "For all
the good they have accomplished, the more than 200,000 Americans
who have served in AmeriCorps have not organized into an
effective lobbying organization," as military veterans and
senior citizens have. Therefore, he says, President Bush and his
fellow politicians need not "fear a voter backlash when they
don't manage to get the job done."

He adds, however, that with Mr. Armey gone and a Republican
majority in Congress, Mr. Bush "is running out of excuses." If
the president is still committed to promoting civilian national
service, now is the time to prove it, Mr. Just concludes.

The article is available online at

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

by todd miner

25 March 2003 15:33 UTC