I disagree with the premise of Mr. Bubb`s June 21 piece concerning the rationale for national service. Of course, I cannot speak for the advocates of national service mentioned in the article, but I do not believe that they intend to change American society into one ”in which the individual exists to serve the collective.”
National service is not a question of individual subservience to the state; instead, it is the idea that all provide some type of service to the society that permits them to live and prosper.
The fact that ”America`s young people have the right to pursue whatever goals they want for whatever reasons they want” is a direct result of being a member of our society and, ideally, all members of our society would contribute some service towards improving or maintaining this society.
One of the reasons for this lack of universal ”dues payment” is that there is no comprehensive plan for an acceptable type of universal service. The details of such a plan may be difficult to resolve but could be with the will to do so.
