Serve America Act, A Peaceful Patriotism

On September 12, 2009 Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT)announced their intention to introduce new legislation, the “Serve America Act,” to expand opportunities for service for all Americans. The legislation will ask 175,000 more Americans to give a year of service to address specific national challenges, thereby expanding the number of national service participants to 250,000. The legislation will also increase opportunities for individuals to serve at every stage of their life and will support nonprofit organizations and social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to our most pressing problems.

Gary Hart waxed enthusiastic, as well he should, on the HuffPo:

Now, in a new time of national peril, rather than considering it a luxury, we need to see national service as a necessity for the rallying of the national community behind our common good and our common goals. No single step would revitalize our fearful national spirit more than a new era of civic republicanism. The single best vehicle to achieve this goal is the proposed Serve America Act sponsored by Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch. This is a genuinely bipartisan response to President Obama's challenge to Americans of all ages to serve the national community.

Building on existing Americorps programs and the National Community Service Act, Serve America would substantially expand opportunities for all age groups, from young people to retired professionals, to provide a year or more of service in community education, health, environment, energy efficiency, and a host of other projects. Young people participating in Serve America would also qualify for financial support to pursue higher education.

Among those hardest hit by a shrinking job market are those just entering the work force. Rather than stay in their parents' home, roam the mean streets, or suffer endless employment rejection, unemployed young people especially can join Serve America to improve their communities and build their own ladders out of economic recession. Creative opportunities such as this are exactly what Barack Obama's standard of "responsibility" is all about.

Summary of Serve America Act here.

Press Release from Ted Kennedy and Orin Hatch on Serve America Act.

This is an expression of patriotism I can get behind! Sign the Declaration of Service here.