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RELOCATIONS Herb Rothschild Jr.: Require national service DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Oct. 17, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Oct. 17, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Reflecting in last week’s column on the terrible event in Roseburg, I suggested that we set Christopher Harper-Mercer’s actions in a cultural context. We did that when Dylann Roof killed nine people at the church in Charleston, because he told us that the racism prevalent in his world crucially influenced him. And it led to a constructive, albeit modest, action — the South Carolina legislature’s decision to stop flying the Confederate flag over the state Capitol. The two features of our culture that I cited as relevant in Harper-Mercer’s case were that this country isn’t holding out much hope for young adults from families of limited means, and that our glorification of violence begins at the top, namely our national government’s abiding commitment to war. There is no one way to change either of these conditions. But I am unsympathetic to insisting on one comprehensive solution to large and complex problems. As Jeff Golden always says when he signs off “Immense Possibilities,” “Do what you can.” And here’s something we can do to address simultaneously both these unhappy features of our national culture: We can require two years of national service by everyone (men and women) between the ages of 18 and 26. Not military service, though that could be a person’s choice, but service in the public good. Although I’m committed to de-militarizing our foreign policy, there are many aspects of military service to praise. Here are some: It provides a direction and purpose for young adults lacking them. It instills a sense of belonging and responsibility to the team. It conveys a belief that one’s actions are valued and valuable. Those who aren’t damaged by combat often leave the service more mature and self-confident than they otherwise would have been. And some (though recruiters tend to exaggerate these benefits) leave with useful skills and funds for college. Our volunteer military actually is kept afloat by the “economic draft.” A national service would address the same economic conditions and provide all the aforementioned benefits without their being compromised by the military’s culture of unreflective chauvinism and aggression. The federal government has promoted non-military national service on a voluntary basis since the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973. Its commitment was reaffirmed by the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and again by the Serve America Act of 2009. Those dates indicate that the commitment to non-military national service has been bipartisan. A 1993 amendment to the National and Community Service Act established the Corporation for National and Community Service. The CNCS engages more than 5 million Americans in service through its core programs — Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and the Social Innovation Fund. So there is an existing structure for national service, although it would have to be vastly expanded were service to become compulsory and universal for young adults. But unlike the military, it wouldn’t be an entirely federal bureaucracy, because the CNCS works primarily through state and local governments and private nonprofit agencies for its placements. I favor a six-week training period prior to placement, during which all those virtues of military service I mentioned could begin to be instilled. Training could take place at domestic military bases (of which we have an excess), but under civilian control and with appropriate instruction, both historical and operational. There is enormous work to be done to repair the social and physical fabric of our nation. Like the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression, a national service could set about it. Herb Rothschild Jr. is chairman of the board of Peace House. 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