Above and beyond

In a move that reeks of either altruism or feel-good lip service, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of the largest expansion of government-sponsored service organizations since 1963.

In addition to creating several new programs, the vote increased the number of available slots in AmeriCorps three-fold from 75,000 to 225,000. This follows an impassioned request by President Barack Obama in his congressional address for "a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations."

The expansion will cost the American taxpayer $6 billion over the next five years, a comparably small sum that is easy to accept, although some critics have said the money could be put to better use elsewhere, such as to increase military salaries.

This appears to be Obama beginning to make good on his campaign promise to usher in a new era of national service that has evoked many comparisons on both sides of the aisle to the President Roosevelt's New Deal.

This is subtly different from that of the New Deal. FDR instated that particular amalgamation of legislation to meet the needs of a crippled workforce in need of employment. While there are similarities in terms of our increased unemployment, the New Deal was about filling jobs, whereas Obama's plan seems to involve more a return to the ideal of American altruism and can-do spirit.

After all, AmeriCorps is a volunteer organization in spite of the myriad educational credits they offer members, while the New Deal was all about the paid employment. If paychecks are meant to instill a sense of self-sufficiency, then volunteering fosters a sense of altruism and community responsibility.

The grain of salt here, as with everything else we've been promised in the last two months, is that this might not work out as well as it sounds, especially if the money is mismanaged or misapplied. Considering that we've just weathered eight years of sleight-of-hand governance, however, we can hardly be blamed for wariness.

Besides, the core of the message that the Obama administration is delivering with this move is a good one. It's foolish to think that a country of this size and diversity can function as an unregulated "every man for himself" utopia. The only way for this American organism to survive is if each of its cells (that would be us) works in some way for the betterment of the organization as a whole.

We certainly don't need AmeriCorps or government funding to volunteer our time and energy to American improvement, but the increased attention and monies will put the idea of voluntary service more in the forefront of the American consciousness, and that can't be considered a bad thing.