I've been amazed watching the attempts of my daughter, Bridget, to apply to the Peace Corps this year. The barriers to participation have ranged from a notarized letter from parents making them responsible for all student loans, to a mandate in her case that could have required the extraction of all wisdom teeth. The application thus far has included required, above-standard dental and medical bills of more than $1,500. We've paid them because Bridget has no extra money, living and working in New York City. The application, however, still is incomplete. The Peace Corps unwittingly has become an exclusive club. Bridget has good language and computational skills. She can speak practical Mandarin Chinese with four years study at the University of Michigan and three months of intensive study in China. She's been told that if accepted, she'll probably serve somewhere in Latin America. She only has some beginning Spanish. We can and must do so much better. The world needs our brightness, ingenuity, generosity and creativity -- not dominating, exported, profit-driven military firepower. Let's begin the transition now. Let's bring a halt to the falling dominoes by fully embracing democracy that serves the common good, at home and abroad. Ask not what your predominant country can do for you, but what you can do for the people of your country, and the planet. You get what you pay for. Pray for peace. Pay for peace. Invest in a future without war.
Michael McCarthy writes: Our foreign policy would be better off with Peace Corps
Michael McCarthy: Our foreign policy would be better off with Peace Corps
The practice of policing the world and imposing our specifications on every international problem is tumbling now from Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt.
The domino theory, coined to justify our involvement in the Vietnam War, is coming home to roost -- not because of ignoring communist threats, but because of our hyper-intervention. Every one of these countries' top-down governments accepted massive U.S. military aid through the years.
The War on Terror, with its invasion, occupation and ongoing carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan, has collapsed the balance of power in those regions, thanks to our arrogant posturing.
We believed we could do it alone. Either you are for us or against us.
It will take decades for us to regain mutual respect within the international community.
These are the fruits of a weapons-only, minimal-diplomatic-respect foreign policy. In the past decade, we've created a new isolationism of the single superpower, encased in military might, clothed in the armor of permanent confrontation.
To break out of these mental and political chains, we desperately need a foreign-language-competent, fully funded State Department Foreign Service corps. To better achieve this, we should mount a national effort to provide our next generation access to live-in experiences in countries throughout the world.
An interdependence of interests and understanding is the only means to resolving worldwide conflict. A re-invigorated Peace Corps should be bigger than the Marine Corps.
When Sargent Shriver and John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1962, they envisioned 100,000 people or more serving each year.
That goal never came close. In the past 50 years, we've only mustered an average of 4,000 corps members a year. The Peace Corps budget stagnates. It's on par with the budget the armed forces allocate for military music bands. Instead of armed services signing bonuses, we have Peace Corps obstacles.
I've been amazed watching the attempts of my daughter, Bridget,
to apply to the Peace Corps this year. The barriers to participation
have ranged from a notarized letter from parents making them responsible for all student loans, to a mandate in her case that could have required the extraction of all wisdom teeth.
The application thus far has included required, above-standard dental and medical bills of more than $1,500. We've paid them because Bridget has no extra money, living and working in New York City. The application, however, still is incomplete.
The Peace Corps unwittingly has become an exclusive club. Bridget has good language and computational skills. She can speak practical Mandarin Chinese with four years study at the University of Michigan and three months of intensive study in China.
She's been told that if accepted, she'll probably serve somewhere in Latin America. She only has some beginning Spanish.
We can and must do so much better. The world needs our brightness, ingenuity, generosity and creativity -- not dominating, exported, profit-driven military firepower.
Let's begin the transition now. Let's bring a halt to the falling dominoes by fully embracing democracy that serves the common good, at home and abroad. Ask not what your predominant country can do for you, but what you can do for the people of your country, and the planet.
You get what you pay for. Pray for peace. Pay for peace. Invest in a future without war.
"For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." -- Mark 10:45i
? Michael McCarthy of Port Huron is a leader of Blue Water Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization.t/about-us/our-vision/
