Universal
National Service
To restore a sense that "we are all in this together":
Imagine a conservative gun owner from Appalachia working alongside a liberal prep school graduate from Manhattan. The son of Mexican immigrants from Los Angeles shares daily responsibilities with a white teenager from suburban Chicago. Americans who might never encounter each other may tutor students together, serve on a Marine base, or rebuild after a hurricane. Their differences become secondary to a shared purpose. Over time, their identities shift. They become defined less by where they come from and more by a unifying sense of American identity.
The Basics
1
Universal
All citizens will be encouraged to participate in one year of civilian or military national service upon turning eighteen or upon completing their college education. Powerful financial rewards and social expectations will ensure near universal participation, which is essential for fostering the kind of shared civic experience that transcends geographic, ethnic, racial, religious and socioeconomic divides.
2
Flexible
Some may choose traditional military service. Other youth will contribute through civilian service in healthcare, education, environmental conservation and any certified not-for-profit organization, including existing federal programs like AmeriCorps and the PeaceCorps; state and local first responders, child care, hospitals, and elder care; or accredited NGOs like the Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Future Farmers, Teach for America, and hundreds more.
Why National Service Now?
Social Capital
Decline of Third Places
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the phrase “third place” in his 1989 book, The Great Good Place, to describe a gathering place distinct from home (1st place) and work (2nd place).
Third places are so fundamental to civic life that they define the very soul of a city: London is its pubs, Paris is its cafés, and Ancient Rome was its public forums. Yet, these spaces and the social functions they support have been disappearing. Americans are spending less time, and consequently interacting with each other, at restaurants, parks, bars, and markets.
These institutions are settings for the formation of social norms, informal trust, and relationships that span social, political, and cultural divides. In their absence, people lack the everyday, low-stakes encounters that humanize other Americans. Consequently, empathy erodes, and divisions intensify.
18%
Decline in arts + entertainment establishments
2008 to 2015
-75%
Boy Scout membership
4M to 1M since 1970s
-25%
Civic group membership
since 1974
50%
Religious Affiliation
from 70% in 1930s
“These institutions once served as 'buffers against stress, loneliness, inactivity, and alienation.' Their disappearance has left a void that digital communication has failed to fill.”
–– Finlay et. al., “Closure of Third Places"
+20%
Increase in adult income for low-SES children who form friendships with high-SES peers
–– Nature, Social Capital I (Link)
Declining social capital restricts access to information and opportunity. National service compels cross-class interactions that expand networks and mobility.
"They ate the same food, slept in the same barracks, laughed at the same jokes, underwent the same training, and sang the same songs on route marches together." "My prediction for 50% of entry level white collar jobs being disrupted is 1–5 years, even though I suspect we’ll have powerful AI (which would be, technologically speaking, enough to do most or all jobs, not just entry level) in much less than 5 years."
–– Study on Singapore National Service
National service has the unique potential to cultivate a shared national identity among young Americans by dissolving the social, economic, and cultural boundaries that divide them.
National service simultaneously develops bonding and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital is the “sociological superglue” that binds people with homogenous characteristics (demographics, incomes, interests). Bridging capital is the sociological WD-40 that reduces the friction between people across differences.
Overton Window
National service creates the political leverage to move "impossible" policies into the mainstream. By fulfilling a "contract" with the nation, young people earn the moral authority to demand structural reforms in housing, education, and climate policy.
Young Americans returning from WWII weren't shy about seizing the levers of power in our country, and the elders knew better than to contest the hard won authority of the Greatest Generation. Today's rising generation can command equal respect by devoting themselves to service to our country. Americans will witness firsthand young people working to improve their schools, hospitals, neighborhoods, and national defense. When young Americans are seen as present-day contributors to the public good, older Americans will be more willing to invest in them.
America has a precedent for this kind of reciprocity. The G.I. Bill transformed the sacrifice and commitment of WWII veterans into seismic investment in their education, job training, and housing. A shifted Overton Window can unlock momentum for the priorities of the next generation.
Critics may contend that national service comes with a significant price tag. They argue we can more effectively help the rising generation by paying down the national debt. Yet paying our own children to serve the legimate needs of the nation while building values, character, and patriotism is not a loss to society. It is a direct investment in the physical and human capital of our nation's future. The experience of service will help the rising generation develop the skills, moral courage, and social cohesion that sustain our national identity and prepare our citizens to thrive in an age of AI-enabled automation.
Social Isolation
Over the last century, a clear pattern emerges: more wealth, more rights, more representation. Yet this upward trajectory masks a less visible decline, namely the erosion of social connection. Civic life has eroded, third places have disappeared, loneliness has exploded. Young Americans, pulled into digital silos, have become lonelier, more atomized, more cynical.
12%
Americans with no close friends
Up from 3% iin 1990
- 43%
Reduction in time teens spend with friends
Since 2003
45%
Time Americans 15 to 29 spent alone
2010 to 2023
62nd
U.S. rank for happiness among people under 30
10th for those over 60
Health Impact of Loneliness
Social Disconnection carries mortality risks equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day –– increasing risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, and premature death.
– U.S. Surgeon General Advisory, 2023
Youth Paradox
Young people are more "connected" than ever. But, time spent with friends has decreased 70% in the last two decades.
National service provides the structured, face-to-face environment necessary to combat the "loneliness of the long-distance screen." By placing young people in shared physical spaces with a common mission, service replaces digital consumption with communal contribution.
Human Capital
AI is violently transforming labor demands. With unmatched scale, national service can provide early career training and deploy millions in sectors less vulnerable to AI and automation.
Since the 1970s, automation has spurred a skill-polarizing effect on the U.S. labor market, hitting middle-skill roles the hardest. But, for the first time, AI-augmented automation is beginning to displace labor across the entire spectrum.
+0.4
Average GPA increase for student veterans
compared to civilian peers
- 43%
Reduction in time teens spend with friends
Since 2003
45%
Time Americans 15 to 29 spent alone
2010 to 2023
62nd
U.S. rank for happiness among people under 30
10th for those over 60
Since 2023, 85% of the increase in the unemployment rate is attributed to new market entrants. Keynes’ prediction in Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren – “our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor [outruns] the pace at which we can find new uses for labor” – does not yet ring true. But young Americans will be the ones navigating the uncertain and volatile transition to this world. Amid the growing labor uncertainty for young people, a national service program is a timely silver bullet.
The next generation of American workers will require skills that machines cannot master: team management, effective communication, empathetic interaction, complex technical proficiency, and creativity.
National service can alleviate the skill-retraining demands of the American labor market, developing competency in these skills and serving as a launchpad for young Americans’ careers. The program will embed young Americans in real-world settings including military units, public sector agencies (health departments, social services, and disaster relief operations), or accredited nonprofit organizations like the American Red Cross or City Year. In doing so, it will allow participants to develop competencies while contributing meaningfully to the country.
"National Gym” for personal growth
Former general, Aviv Kochavi, described IDF service as a personal gym “that gives individuals the relevant skills for the 21st century” and a national gym “that supplies the nation with trained, experienced, and self-confident people who contribute to its economy." When Israeli citizens turn eighteen, they enter an environment that instills responsibility, resilience, and focus. Young Israelis learn discipline and accountability through the tight demands of military life: early morning formations, physical training, and tight schedules. The skills conscripts learn make their time in the IDF formative, not only for their character but long term educational and professional success.
Patriotism and Gratitude
Individualism
The many freedoms we enjoy, if not grounded in a common sense of duty to the institutions that sustain them, are hollow and fragile. But when we commit ourselves to a shared mission, to the values that bind us together, and the pursuit of a collective well-being, those freedoms become more than just ink on paper. With that commitment, we cease to be a mere collection of individuals and become a true community bound by mutual trust and purpose.
When society leans heavily on carrots and sticks, the moral glue that holds it together erodes. A striking example of this is economist Richard Titmuss’s comparison of blood donation systems that are financially incentivized and those that rely on unpaid volunteers. Titmuss concluded that introducing financial rewards for blood donation does not increase blood donation. On the contrary, when people were paid to donate blood, the quantity and quality of blood donated actually decreased in some instances. The Titmuss Hypothesis parallels civic responsibility. It cannot be bought.
Loving what we fight for
Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote, “we will not fight to save what we do not love,” arguing that an emotional connection to nature is essential to motivate its protection. This insight holds for the basic architecture of liberal democracy, especially today.
The mirror image of Gould’s insight is equally true: we will not love what we do not fight for. Fixing systemic inequality is essential for renewing faith in the American promise. But repairing the material conditions alone is not enough. Prosperity alone does not produce love for our country, its people, and its institutions. It is not those who have received the most from our country who are the most patriotic. Veterans, those who have given the most, as well as America’s poorest, are the most likely to say that they would rather be American than any other nationality. This love must also be cultivated through shared struggle and renewed participation in a common national purpose, where everyone, regardless of background, has a role to play in shaping America’s future.
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"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
— President John F. Kennedy