Are enough Americans awake enough to know that we must be more aware of the whole world's needs and character than ever before?
The greatest task that we face as a global community in the 21st century is somehow making a place for 2 1/2 billion people who have been left behind by the advances of the last half-century. It is those wretched of the earth who are, and who will continue to be, the main cause of instability and insecurity. We can't fix their problem in the next year or the next five years but we're going to have to focus on them not only because we owe it to our fellow humans, but because it is essential for our security as Americans. Addressing the despair, hunger, poverty, and injustice that breed violence and unrest can be the centerpiece for a new global policy.
While it is both prudent and practical to pay attention to the world's current political stress zones, we must just as surely keep our eyes on the horizon to see what new tempest might be blowing our way. In a world grown increasingly interconnected, it is imperative that we view events through the widest possible lens.
Former Senator Chuck Hagel America: Our Next Chapter
Are Americans ready to get up off of the couch, to do more than twitter, to do more than praise or criticize a speech?Do we still have the right stuff?
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
JFK, 1961 Inaugural Address
Have we learned enough hard, bloody, and pocket book lessons to know that it is time to field a leaner, smarter team that can win the crowd on 21st century's battlefields?
If the Pentagon's map is more urgent, the Peace Corp's is, perhaps, in the long run, the most important. What happens in India, Africa, and South America-- whether the nations where the Peace Corps works succeed or not -- may well determine the balance of peace.
Peace Corps First Director, Sarge Shriver, Punte De Lance
Are we alert enough to build the knowledgeable citizenry that an honorable man of war knew we needed so that peaceful methods of service could spread security and liberty?
"Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry," Eisenhower warned in 1961, "can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
American needs to field 21 million AWSC volunteers over the next 27 years. For America, it is now both a jobs program and the right thing to do. Other nations need to join us in building the same teams. People's Lobby's American World Service Corps (AWSC) Congressional Proposals provides the legislation to do that. Help us make it happen by urging your Congressional reps and the President to implement the AWSC Congressional Proposals.
"You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership...
Today we are competing for new hearts and minds"
Dwight D. Eisenhower
