ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Some Americans may have been led to believe that expanding the federal AmeriCorps program is just what the country needs after Sept. 11. But, in spite of its patriotic name, AmeriCorps represents the worst, not the best, that Washington has to offer.
The Corporation for National Service - AmeriCorps' parent - was established under President Clinton to serve as a "domestic Peace Corps" and helped to introduce the oxymoronic phrase "paid volunteer" into the American vocabulary.
CNS's bureaucracy oversees three separate programs, Learn and Serve America; the National Senior Service Corps; and its best-known, most-criticized program, AmeriCorps.
Since its inception, AmeriCorps has not only been financially corrupt but it has also allowed government-sponsored participants to lobby illegally for numerous leftist causes, ranging from "defending" the environment to protesting California's proposed "Three Strikes and You're Out" law.
In April 2000, the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversaw Clinton's CNS tried to have independent auditors look at the bottom line. What they found would have made Enron auditors proud. For the sixth time since its creation in 1993 the agency's books couldn't be reconciled with reality.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has studied CNS programs seven times since 1995, yet cannot provide a definite cost per participant. The GAO studies have found CNS "volunteers" costing taxpayers anywhere from a total of $8,000 to a whopping $100,000 per participant.
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With such a checkered history one would think that CNS and AmeriCorps would join other federal follies in the dustbin of history. Yet AmeriCorps is not just surviving under a Republican administration, it is thriving - and billions of tax dollars are at stake.
President Bush has asked for a large increase in Peace Corps and CNS funding, a vast new array of programs under a big-brother like Citizen Corps, and a new bureaucracy called "Freedom Corps" with its own White House office - a sure ticket to immortality - all under the misguided notion of "national security."
Despite being a government entity hoping to foster more volunteerism for non-profit organizations, Freedom Corps would be overseen by a director and a coordinating council consisting of 14 high-ranking government officials, including the president - not one private citizen in the bunch.
Worse, under the administration-backed legislation, AmeriCorps "volunteers" would not only be allowed to receive tax free education awards "but also options to use the funds for a down payment on a home, job training or health-care costs" - all luxuries real-world volunteers would have to go out and get a job to afford.
In addition, included in the new Citizen Corps is Operation TIPS, which would allow postal, transportation and public utility employees to spy on their fellow Americans, and report back to the government.
In one of his first executive orders as president, George W. Bush stated "faith-based and other community organizations are indispensable in meeting the needs of poor Americans and distressed neighborhoods. Government cannot be replaced by such organizations, but it can and should welcome them as partners."
Agencies such as AmeriCorps take this "partnership" in the wrong direction, by trying to socialize the volunteering nature at the heart of all United States citizens.
America has a noble history of volunteering, especially during times of war. This war is no different. The airline passengers on Flight 93, the majority of rescue workers' support at the World Trade Center, the airline passengers who took down the attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid were all people who saw others in need and became heroes - without waiting for Washington to "lead them."
To try to bottle that principled heroism under an already poorly run government program literally does a disservice to those who serve our nation without the benefit of tax subsidies.
by Tom McClusky
Knight Ridder-Tribune Columnist
Tom McClusky is senior policy analyst for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Readers may write to him at NTU, 108 N. Alfred St., Alexandria, Va. 2231 or visit NTU's Web site at www.ntu.org.
