ABSTRACT
National service has long been a favourite Utopian scheme. National service has always generated strong approval in opinion polls, largely because it means different things to different people. National service proponents rightly point to the problem of an entitlement mentality, the idea that, for instance, students have a right to a taxpayer-paid education. The role of opportunity costs is the crux of the national service debate. Like the mythical Sirens, national service retains its allure. Argues Roger Landrum of Youth Service America, "Clinton has a shot at mobilizing the idealism and energy of a very significant number of young people, as Roosevelt did with the Civilian Conservation Corps and John F. Kennedy did with the Peace Corps". The Clinton administration's attitude towards would-be volunteers at church day care centers and non-liberal public interest groups like the National Taxpayers Union would likely be quite different.
