Corps-Crazy

THE spontaneous response of Americans to the Sept. 11 attacks should serve as a rebuke to critics who fret about an anemic civic spirit. Charities’ coffers were filled, blood banks overflowed, and inventories of Old Glory were exhausted. In November, President Bush marveled that the Communities of Character initiative he had on the drawing board, “designed to spark a rebirth of citizenship and character and service,” had been so abruptly overtaken: “The events of September the eleventh have caused that initiative to happen on its own, in ways we could never have imagined.” But now Washington is getting into the act, with a new program—the USA Freedom Corps—to ensure that the federal government will have a role in mobilizing volunteers.

The critics are right: AmeriCorps is a wasteful boondoggle.

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Kate O'Beirne

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THE spontaneous response of Americans to the Sept. 11 attacks should serve as a rebuke to critics who fret about an anemic civic spirit. Charities’ coffers were filled, blood banks overflowed, and inventories of Old Glory were exhausted. In November, President Bush marveled that the Communities of Character initiative he had on the drawing board, “designed to spark a rebirth of citizenship and character and service,” had been so abruptly overtaken: “The events of September the eleventh have caused that initiative to happen on its own, in ways we could never have imagined.” But now Washington is getting into the act, with a new program—the USA Freedom Corps—to ensure that the federal government will have a role in mobilizing volunteers.

The critics are right: AmeriCorps is a wasteful boondoggle.