Not Tending to Our Garden

We must cultivate our garden. Voltaire (1758)
In the spirit of Voltaire's dictum to tend to your own garden, a recent Wall Street Journal editorial leaves me at a loss.

In "Getting Iraq to Work," Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich argue that a portion of the $100 billion supplement which the Pentagon asked Congress to approve before Christmas be used "to create an Iraqi Citizen Job Corps, along the lines of FDR's civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression. The Job Corps can operate under the supervision of our military and with its protection."

This in the midst of budgetary slashing of our stateside CCC equivalent, the Americorps Program. Americorp's National Civilian Community Corps is suffering a cut of $22 million this year, leaving it to function on $5 million for the remainder of this year, after which time it will be phased out. (Two other AmeriCorps programs will remain.)

This money is peanuts compared to what we are losing in Iraq. The program provided tutoring for at-risk school children and built homes for the needy, among other services, including environmental initiatives, something this administration finds little need of. Obviously, the needs of our own citizens take a back seat to GWB's pet programs. Our outlay in Iraq will provide no such goods for our own citizens.

An AmeriCorps worker earns an average stipend of $800/month to help cover living expenses in exchange for 38-40 hrs./wk of labor. The philosophy is that the worker will live in a sustenance fashion, in line with the community in which he serves. Volunteers have access to community health clinics for their medical needs, and can receive a modest food stamp stipend, around $100/month, as they will be living on the poverty line for the duration of their assignment, which lasts from one to two years, typically. At the termination of a two-year assignment, the volunteer earns $4,275 towards college education or debt repayment.

What a rare program, where both the worker and the recipient benefit. The expenditure is modest, and the outlay offers an exponential return.

AmeriCorps was President Clinton's pet project--a stateside Peace Corps--and for this reason has never been a darling of the Republicans, even after the "faith-based" initiatives were worked into the program. John McCain went to bat for the program early in this administration's term, but I do not see him stepping up to the plate now. This is yet another case of misplaced priorities.

--by Lisa