Service has always been a defining feature of American life, but the fight over funding problems at AmeriCorps has brought national service to the forefront of current political debates. Leaders including President Bush and Senators Bayh, Kennedy, Kerry, and McCain have all offered proposals to expand national service.
On Wednesday, July 30, Brookings hosted a discussion about these debates and their implications for the meaning of citizenship. Panelists included contributors to the newly released Brookings book, United We Serve: National Service and the Future of Citizenship. The book, edited by E.J. Dionne Jr., Kayla Meltzer Drogosz, and Robert E. Litan, is the first volume to deal comprehensively with the national service movement. It contains essays by Americans who have served their country in diverse ways—in the military, the Peace Corps, VISTA, the civil rights movement, City Year, and in the executive and legislative branches of government. The book brings together the voices of politicians, activists, policymakers, journalists, and others who are both supporters and critics of the national service movement.