We live in a time of anxiety over the nation’s political divisions, declining support for democracy, and rising hate-fueled violence. These tendencies can be paralyzing for those who feel powerless to effect change. But our history and today’s efforts to expand national service and volunteerism can reverse these trends and unite us.
America’s story gives us hope. Democracy is a demanding form of government that relies on the people being at the center of problem-solving. In fact, historians have commented that American civil service has contributed to much of the country’s transformation, from the citizen soldiers of the American Revolutionary War to the civilians who helped create national parks to the civil rights movement demanding more equality. doing. of opportunity.
Service is in America’s bloodstream, what we call the golden thread of democracy that binds us as a people. Neuroscientists tell us that humans have an innate instinct to cooperate, and that when we serve, even against our own self-interest, we are fundamentally happier and healthier.
Utah is announcing a comprehensive effort to expand service and volunteer opportunities in the state. The call to service will be supported by concrete policies to activate more volunteers. High school students are required to perform many hours of service in order to graduate from high school. Businesses that receive government contracts are required to provide service opportunities to their employees. And the new Year of Service Fellowship program, the first of its kind in the nation, will allow Americans to serve in qualified nonprofits, community agencies, and institutions with a living wage and the opportunity to address public issues. It will be. A report summarizing these and other innovations across the state will be shared with governors and state legislators across the country.
This research builds on the Disagree Better initiative and shows that serving alongside people is one of the most effective interventions to depolarize toxic politics.
There are also plans for 10 national service and volunteer organizations to work together to increase national service opportunities to 250,000 a year, to 1 million a year within 10 years. Imagine the impact this will have on our culture when young people ask each other not only where they went to high school and college, but where they spent their working years. A generation of young people will learn to work together on difficult issues across political, racial, ethnic, religious, and background lines and will develop the very leaders our country desperately needs.
After 9/11, when Americans were crying out for national service, President George W. Bush repeatedly called for service and expanded national service and volunteer opportunities. He also created the American Volunteer Survey, which measures the percentage of Americans who participate in formal volunteer work and documents the reasons they step out to help their neighbors and nation. Mostly because they were asked to do so.
Last year, Utah ranked first among all states, with 999,926 full-time volunteers contributing 93.3 million hours of service worth an estimated $2.7 billion. But the numbers don’t add up to the leaders who keep students on track to graduate high school, the food bank volunteers who provide a lifeline to thousands of hungry children and adults, and the conservationists who clean rivers and clear trails. does not fully capture the contributions of Members of the medical reserve team who respond to parks and disasters. This quiet effort empowers the nation to bring compassion and efficiency.
Americans always rise to the challenge, especially when times are tough. Our country is in a deep national slumber, and the next generation is wondering if democracy even works for them.
One answer to this challenge is massive national service and volunteerism, allowing Americans to do what they do best: solve problems and work together across differences toward a more perfect union. It is to do so.
Spencer Cox is Utah’s 18th governor and president of the National Governors Association. John Bridgeland is a former director of President George W. Bush’s White House Domestic Policy Council and CEO of More Perfect, which includes 24 presidential centers and more than 100 organizations.
This essay, part of our opinion series “The American Middle,” explains the value of national service to combat polarization.
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