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<div id="conspiracy">
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<p>REFLECTIONS ON NATIONAL SERVICE</p>
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<p>By JACOB G. HORNBERGER</p>
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<p>National service looms as one of the most dangerous threats to
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the American people in our 200-year history. Previously
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advocated only by liberals, national service is now also
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embraced by many on the conservative side of the political
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spectrum, as evidenced by the recent book, Gratitude, by
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America's foremost conservative, William F. Buckley, Jr.</p>
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<p>The versions of national service are many and varied. Most of
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them are directed to the youth of America. They range from
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universal conscription to more "benign" forms of coercion
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advocated by Mr. Buckley. But all of them have at their core
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one essential principle: that the state, rather than being a
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servant of the people, is their master; and as their master,
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has the power to force the citizenry, either directly or
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indirectly, to serve others.</p>
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<p>National service violates every principle of individual
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liberty and limited government on which this nation was
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founded. As John Locke and Thomas Jefferson emphasized, life,
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liberty, property, and conscience are not privileges bestowed
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on us by governmental officials; they are natural, God-given
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rights with which no public official can legitimately
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interfere. We are not brought into the world to serve the
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state; the state is brought into existence by the people to
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serve us through the protection of our natural, God-given
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rights.</p>
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<p>We should also never forget that the American people of our
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time have chosen an economic system which is alien to that
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which our American ancestors chose. Although there are those
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who honestly believe that the welfare state, planned economy
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way of life is simply an evolution of the original principles
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on which America was founded, they operate under a severe
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delusion. Although there were numerous exceptions (slavery and
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tariffs being the most notable), there is no doubt that our
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American ancestors clearly and unequivocally rejected the
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morality and philosophy of the welfare state, planned economy
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way of life.</p>
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<p>The advocates of national service, liberals and conservatives
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alike, would force Americans to serve a system which our
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ancestors knew would be evil, immoral, and tyrannical. The
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welfare state, like all other socialist systems, plunders the
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wealth and savings of those who have in order to redistribute
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the loot, through the political process, to others. It
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violates one of the most sacred commandments of our God: Thou
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shalt not steal. And the planned economy, through its
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thousands of rules and regulations interfering with peaceful
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human choices, denigrates one of God's most sacred gifts to
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human beings--the great gift of free will.</p>
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<p>Recognizing that the ardent wish of the advocates of national
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service is to require Americans to join them in the support of
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this political evil and immorality, let us examine some of the
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opportunities for "service" in our present-day economic
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system. Perhaps a youth can "volunteer" his services to the
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Internal Revenue Service and thereby help to destroy more
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American lives through terror and confiscation. Or perhaps a
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better opportunity would be to help run the concentration
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centers on the American side of the United States-Mexican
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border--where good and honorable people from the Republic of
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Mexico are incarcerated for committing the heinous, American
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"crime" of trying to sustain and improve their lives through
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labor. Or how about simply being an enforcer of minimum-wage
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laws, thereby helping to condemn black teenagers in Harlem to
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lives of misery and impoverishment. Or perhaps a "volunteer"
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can be one of the thousands who are responsible for injecting
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the narcotic of welfare into the veins of so many thousands of
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our fellow citizens.</p>
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<p>One of the standard complaints about our present-day political
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system, of course, is that not enough "good" people hold
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public office. The suggestion is that if "better" people were
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in public office, socialism in America could finally be made
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to work well. But lost in all of this is that only a certain
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type of person is attracted to participation in a government
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which has overwhelming power over the lives and fortunes of
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others--the person who has an uncontrollable urge to wield
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such power--the person who has yet to learn the final lesson
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in the evolution of man: that true power lies not in
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controlling the lives of others; true power lies in the
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conquest of one's own self.</p>
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<p>What about these individuals, then, who have no desire to
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govern the lives of others or who have overcome such a desire?
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They avoid like the plague any participation in such a
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government. Is this a bad thing? On the contrary! When a
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government is engaged in evil, immorality, and tyranny, the
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only rightful place for the person of conscience is outside of
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that government.</p>
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<p>But the proponents of national service would require or
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"encourage" all Americans, like it or not, to participate in
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the evil and immorality of the welfare state, planned economy
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way of life.</p>
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<p>Perhaps the most tragic aspect of national service is that it
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is advocated by many Christians. Christians know that God
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loved man so much that He entrusted us with a tremendously
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wide ambit of freedom--so much so that we are even able to
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deny Him and our neighbor if we so choose. In other words,
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while God tells us that the two great commandments are to love
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Him and to love our neighbor, never does He force us to comply
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with these commandments. He leaves the choices with us but
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with the understanding that we must ultimately bear the
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consequences of those choices.</p>
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<p>But the advocates of national service believe that God made a
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mistake when He entrusted man with so much freedom. And so
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they wish to correct the "error" by using the coercive power
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of Caesar to ensure that man serves his fellow man whether he
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wants to or not. They block out of their minds that God
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neither needs nor wants this type of "help" and that, in fact,
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by interfering with God's peaceful methods--love, charity,
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forgiveness, acceptance, the cross--they actually place their
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own souls in jeopardy.</p>
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<p>Two hundred years ago, our American ancestors instituted the
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most unusual political-economic system in the history of man.
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With exceptions, government's primary purpose was to protect
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the right of each individual to live his life and to dispose
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of his wealth as he saw fit. While this strange way of life
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guaranteed that people could accumulate unlimited amounts of
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wealth, it did not guarantee what people would do with that
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wealth. Freedom was more important to these people than the
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outcome of freedom. And, ironically, the result was not only
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the most prosperous nation in history but also the most
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charitable nation in history!</p>
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<p>Advocates of national service say that we should be grateful
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to our Founding Fathers for establishing a free society. But
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they want us to "repay the debt" to these deceased advocates
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of liberty by participating in the destruction of the freedom
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which they achieved. Apparently, it is not sufficient that my
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generation, as well as the next, have been saddled by previous
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generations with a very real, financial, political debt that
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ultimately must be paid. And apparently, it is not sufficient
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that we are currently required to work for the first half of
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each year just to maintain the huge, welfare-state bureaucracy
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which previous generations foisted on later generations. No,
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apparently this is not sufficient. We are told that we must
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also deliver now up our children to the state so that they can
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prepare for their lives of permanent, partial enslavement
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through temporary, total enslavement.</p>
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<p>As our Founding Fathers taught us, service to one's country
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sometimes entails opposition to one's government. We often
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forget that those who signed the Declaration of Independence
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were not American citizens. They were as British as any
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British citizen today. And they were viewed as unpatriotic by
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many of their fellow citizens, even those in the colonies,
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because they refused to serve and support their government. In
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fact, it has been estimated that one-third of the colonists
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sided with their government--the British government--during
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the Revolution and that another third stayed neutral during
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the conflict.</p>
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<p>How many present-day Americans would have signed the
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Declaration of Independence? Would you have signed it?
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Remember--by signing that document, you would have placed at
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risk your life, savings, home, and family. And you would have
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been branded a traitor by your own public officials, and by
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many of your friends and neighbors, for refusing to support
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your government. And if you had lost the struggle, you would
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have died a nameless "extremist" rather than as one of the
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greatest patriots of all time.</p>
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<p>The unhappy truth is that most present-day Americans would not
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have served their country by standing against their government
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in 1776. Having served the mandatory 12-year sentence in
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government-approved schools learning government-approved
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doctrine, and having been required to pledge allegiance
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thousands upon thousands of times, most Americans today
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honestly believe that support of their country is synonymous
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with support of their government. And the best proof of this
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is their willingness to approve, support, and serve a tax and
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regulatory tyranny that makes what King George III was doing
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to his citizens look like child's play.</p>
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<p>Although ours is a peaceful war of ideas, it is the most
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important war ever in the history of man. And no one can avoid
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being a part of it. It finds Americans today divided into
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three camps: those who wish to expand the welfare state, those
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who wish to conserve it, and those who wish to end it. It is
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true that those of us who are fighting to end the evil and
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immorality are a very small minority who are facing the vast
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majority of our fellow citizens who wish either to expand or
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conserve it. But we must remain determined and optimistic.
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For our American ancestors showed us that minorities who are
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in the right can prevail over majorities who are in the wrong.
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Time will tell whether those of us who served our nation by
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resisting the tyranny of our government will prevail over
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those who would have us support the tyranny through national
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service and other such schemes.</p>
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<p>Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of
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Freedom Foundation, P.O. Box 9752, Denver, CO 80209.</p>
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<p>------------------------------------------------------------
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From the April 1991 issue of FREEDOM DAILY,
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Copyright (c) 1991, The Future of Freedom Foundation,
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PO Box 9752, Denver, Colorado 80209, 303-777-3588.
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Permission granted to reprint; please give appropriate credit
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and send one copy of reprinted material to the Foundation.
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</p>
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