Sacrifice: An American virtue on rebound

Commentary

By Ron Fournier

Associated Press Writer

updated 4:22 p.m. ET April 29, 2008

It was a simple question, really, one the debate moderator hoped would lead Republican presidential candidates into a discussion about how much the public was willing to give to benefit the nation. "What sacrifice," she said, "would you ask Americans to make to lower the country's debt?"

Sacrifice is a word that Americans like to associate with their heritage, their ideals and themselves. But these days, it's not a word that comes easily to the lips of politicians with aspirations to the highest office in the land.

"It's absolutely unnecessary to sacrifice," said Ron Paul, setting the tone for the December presidential debate.

"Sometimes it's not so much doing things so that people sacrifice," said Mike Huckabee, promising to slash spending without pain to a single voter. "It's doing them differently."

Nor was Mitt Romney about to ask Americans to give up anything for any cause, much less fiscal discipline. "The sacrifice that we need from the American people, it's this: It's saying 'Let the programs that don't work go.'"

No Mother Teresas there. Whether the candidates misunderstood the question or were afraid to talk honestly about sacrifice in public, their careful answers reflected how most politicians prefer to focus on what they would do for voters rather than what they would ask of us. Like the cereal ad that boasted "eat right, sacrifice nothing," Washington promises us more services AND lower taxes, more war AND no draft, all gain and no pain.

Sacrifice and service
We live in a time, and in a nation, consumed by consuming, a materialistic culture that encourages people to pursue happiness via shopping sprees and save sacrifice for tithing on Sundays and distant do-gooders.

But it would be a mistake to assume there is no stomach for sacrifice — or its sister virtue, service — in our society and in our politics. The desire to serve is part of human nature, and a particularly American virtue. History tells us that our selfless instincts flower in troubled times like these, and can be tapped by leaders looking for ways to motivate an anxious people.

Interactive Measure of a Nation A series of stories on the American presidency and the 2008 elections.

Generations of Americans have been willing to die, or risk death, for causes greater than themselves — to liberate the colonies from Britain; to abolish slavery or, depending on the point of view, preserve the Confederacy; to extend U.S. borders in fulfillment of our manifest destiny; to defeat fascism and curb Communism; and, yes, to dismantle Saddam Hussein's regime.

Whether we're asked to sacrifice individually (join the military, feed the poor, conserve energy) or collectively (mandated national service, cuts in entitlement programs, a tax on carbon emissions), the next president is likely to find the most receptive audience since John F. Kennedy's "ask not" address captivated a generation nearly 50 years ago.

Government data show Americans over the age of 16 are volunteering at historically high rates, with 61 million giving their time to help others by mentoring students, beautifying streets, responding to disasters, and much more.

What does sacrifice mean?
Social scientists say the so-called 9/11 generation — the leading edge of which consists of young Americans who were in high school and college when terrorists struck New York and Washington seven years ago — may be the most civic-minded in the nation's history, in addition to being among most ethnically diverse, technologically savvy and spiritual.

MSNBC video   Edwards says U.S. needs to conserve Oct. 30: During the NBC Democratic Candidates Debate in Philadelphia, Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., said the truth is Americans need to be asked to be patriotic about something other than war, and should be asked to conserve and sacrifice to control energy costs. MSNBC

What does sacrifice mean to Kelly Ward? Ask the 27-year-old Harvard graduate and she'll first argue that she's not personally familiar with the concept. Ward runs America Forward, an alliance of public service organizations dedicated to the principle that most of the nation's problems are being solved somewhere — often by small, community-based nonprofit groups using innovative methods that government could support or copy.

"This isn't a sacrifice because I believe in what I'm doing. I've found what I was created to do, which is to do my part to change the world," Ward says while sipping coffee a few blocks from her Cambridge, Mass., office. "OK, I could make more money, sleep a lot more and have a personal life had I gone into a different line of work. But how's this a sacrifice?"

What does sacrifice mean to Sharon Rohrbach? She says it has blessed her life. After 16 years as a neonatal nurse in St. Louis watching too many newborns leave the hospital and return with life-threatening conditions, Rohrbach took a pay cut to create the Nurses for Newborns Foundation to bring nurses into the homes of poor mothers.

"I think there's something in each of us who wants to make things better for other people," she says. "I get more out of this than I give — by a longshot."

What does sacrifice mean to James Appleby? "I can be without the pint of blood and help somebody out in a big way," says the pharmacist donating blood at the Red Cross building near the White House. "It's just a sense of duty I have." But he's astonished that anybody would call it a sacrifice. "Sacrifice is soldiers being away from their families," he says. "THAT'S sacrifice."

None of this is new. Saddled with weak and distant governments, early Americans since the settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth leaned on each other to tackle tough issues — to feed and protect their communities, heal the sick, teach their children, and develop local economies.

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