An Antidote to Disconnection

After conducting a national public opinion survey this year, Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican counterpart Robert Teeter said they were struck by the fact that most respondents referred to Washington as “the government.” In previous years, most used the phrase “our government.” The change reflects the poll’s main finding: Disaffection with government has reached record levels, especially among younger Americans: 64% of those 18 to 34 years old said they felt completely “disconnected” from the government. Such detachment threatens the whole idea of democracy.

That’s why it’s ironic that many in Washington want to kill a program that has brought young Americans closer to their government. AmeriCorps, a sort of domestic Peace Corps, pays the minimum wage to participants who agree to spend a year working with nonprofit ventures that, for example, help children learn to read.

There is abundant evidence of the success of the program since its founding five years ago. In the 1997-98 program, AmeriCorps reported, members tutored 1.1 million children and adults, restored or preserved 440,000 acres of public land and immunized 283,000 children and adults.

The Chronicle of Higher Education points to tests in West Virginia showing that AmeriCorps summer reading tutors helped children gain an average of one month’s experience in word identification skills and three months in comprehension. Texas education officials saw similar results.

In short, AmeriCorps has encouraged hundreds of thousands of young Americans to become doers and dreamers, not slackers or cynics.

For all of these reasons, AmeriCorps should be valued. Instead, the House of Representatives this month voted to terminate its entire $403-million budget. At a House oversight subcommittee hearing last week, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) argued that AmeriCorps’ procedures for monitoring its members “compliance with regulations” were inadequate. Others, however, have hailed the tight accountability measures that AmeriCorps CEO Harris Wofford, a former Peace Corps director, has put in place in the last three years.

The budget battle now moves to a Senate-House conference committee, whose leaders should better appreciate the program’s nonpartisan success at promoting essential civic virtues like hard work, self-discipline and personal responsibility.