Washington’s Push for More Volunteers

Re “Volunteerism: Is It, as the President Says, the True Spirit of America?” Commentary, April 25:

So, Andrew Lewis thinks volunteerism is not only “un-American” but “has justified all the tyrannies of history.” He points to our Revolution and the “frontiersmen who tamed the West” as proof of our commitment to “independence.” Yet for someone who relies so heavily on American history for his argument, he certainly seems unacquainted with it.

How did we get our independence? Thirteen colonies joined together voluntarily to create a new nation. People volunteered to be Minutemen and Continental soldiers. Those who didn’t fight formed voluntary committees to support the Revolution and maintain order.

And how was the West “tamed”? Settlers worked together alongside a volunteer army that protected them from the indigenous people (whose own independence they did not recognize).

It is bad enough that Lewis cannot tell the difference between volunteerism and coercion, but to combine that with a terrible ignorance of American history is shameful.

THOMAS M. HEANEY

Irvine

Well, this year may go down in history as the year of the volunteer. Summit meetings, presidential participation, the whole works. I am impressed. So far, the only official governmental recognition is to allow a deduction of 12 cents a mile for the use of a car.

For the most part, volunteers save various government agencies and nonprofit organizations millions of dollars in costs annually. In many cases these agencies could not buy the talent and experience that is available to them free of charge. The very least our government can do is to recognize this service by giving something a little better than a token mileage reimbursement. We should be able to work out a program of a tax deduction for time given as a volunteer. Nothing elaborate. How about the equivalent of the minimum hourly wage for openers?

MARVIN BIERS

Tarzana

Re “President Sounds Call for Citizens to Volunteer,” April 28: Volunteers deserve credit. But Clinton says that individual Americans, not government, have the primary responsibility for solving serious youth problems. This is stupid. Individual Americans cannot develop adequate health care programs, good jobs, decent housing, first-rate vocational training programs and the like. These are all essential elements of government responsibility.

Why the push for a national volunteerism program? This is the culmination of a long-range effort by conservative and reactionary forces to replace essential government services with a volunteer force. It is an obvious attempt to reduce and eliminate necessary taxes on those best able to pay.

QUENTIN C. STODOLA

Redondo Beach