Forced civic engagement by proxy

The Economist has an article describing how our major candidates for president, Senators Obama and McCain, are "pitch[ing] their appeals to Americans' most selfless interests." According to the article, a reason for this is that the candidates have noticed that Americans have been eschewing public service.

On the one hand: Researchers have found that, by nearly every indicator, Americans’ “civic engagement” declined dramatically in the last three decades of the 20th century. A smaller share of Americans voted, joined civic-minded clubs, attended public meetings or volunteered on a campaign.

But on the other hand:

Decades-long trends are shifting: youth voter turnout has increased in the last three election cycles, the first time that has happened since 18-year-olds were admitted to the franchise. Studies have shown that college students are more interested in talking about and taking part in politics than their counterparts in the 1990s. If the primary campaign was any indication, in the autumn young foot-soldiers will not only turn out to vote in large numbers but will also volunteer in droves.

Now call me cynical (actually, don't, I hate that), but here's my take on what's going on.

Our cultural zeitgeist is the government is supposed to take care of everything: we have public education, Medicaid/Medicare, faith-based initiatives to help the under-whatevered, Fannie & Freddie to help people buy homes they can't afford, foreign aid to feed the internationally hungry, environmental regulation to save the endangered species-du-jour. And we're taxed to death and against our will to finance the welfare of everybody-and-every-possible-thing-in-this-universe-that-isn't-me. Any sane adult in these circumstances could make an absolutely rational choice to cease most or all private volunteering and charitable activities. Why bother? The government is already taking his money to supposedly do these very things. He's engaged by proxy -- he spends his time making money that is taken from him and turned over to these projects. It's just the same as if he'd volunteered his time (except for the small detail that he hasn't). On top of that, the recipients of his forced welfare contributions are claiming his "engagement" by right. Any genuinely charitable motives for "service" must be obliterated by such a scheme.

But young people haven't yet spent years being taxed. They have, however, just matured into their personalities after having their formative years sucking up this I-am-my-brothers'-keeper ethos. And they still think ideas matter -- much more so than the older adult population -- so they're willing to put their money where their mouth is.

The irony is, these young activists will fight for more of the same kinds of big-government policies that will, in my opinion, lead to their inevitable disengagement and disillusionment. And they'll fall faster, farther, and harder.