A New Kind of Academy

Ask not what your country can do for you u00e2u0080u0093 ask what can you do for Hillary Clinton. I was a guinea pig at Hillaryu00e2u0080u0099s u00e2u0080u009cthink tank.u00e2u0080u009d Somewhere, between Purgatory and the Gulag system, Hillary spawned the US Public Service Academy. The Duke lacrosse team fiasco shows that liberal educators have created a phony cultural paradigm that distorts reality. But, nobody exploits phony paradigms, obfuscates the truth, or games the system like the Clintons.

WHAT IS PAST IS PROLOGUE:

Set the Wayback Machine for 23 August 1995: a hot day in the nationu00e2u0080u0099s capitol. But 3000 miles due west on Californiau00e2u0080u0099s Central Coast, a constellation of events was unfolding that would have a profound effect on Western civilization. Yet, this cataclysmic upheaval was only part of the plan. Bill Clinton picked up the telephone. It was his Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, calling from a payphone in Monterey. Bill held the receiver at arms length and gazed at the tasteful floral arrangement that adorned the Oval Office. Leonu00e2u0080u0099s disembodied voice filled the room. What now, asked Hillary. Itu00e2u0080u0099s that damn college, mouthed Bill. There was, no getting out. Hillary nodded, just tell Leon heu00e2u0080u0099ll get whatever he needs: http://theseedsof9-11.com

Matt - thanks for your thoughtful response. It's true that the American military has made some serious blunders in the past and continue to do so in some places today. When people don't consider the worthiness of a goal, it can lead to some serious and undesirable consequences.

This is exactly why the Public Service Academy is so important. It exists to " develop students who pursue the highest ideals of human character and the American values of freedom, democracy, and equal opportunity; strive for individual excellence yet feel A PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ACHIEVE THE COMMON GOOD" (my emphasis). This is exactly what America needs - people who are willing to take responsibility for their actions - something that was missing in Vietnam and in places in Iraq today.

Society is moving towards specialized knowledge simply because in an advanced society, specialized knowledge is rewarded. That's why the number of liberal arts majors is dropping and why many people graduate with science and engineering degrees. You're right, its critical to have broad education and consider the consequences, but the route is not through rejecting specialization. Specialization alone does not bring evil; evil happens when people dehumanize others - much more likely in the military than at a PUBLIC SERVICE institution.

As wonderful as it sounds, I think the Public Service Academy would be more than a mistake. It would be a huge blunder, a resounding disaster. The last 65 years of our nation's history should show that clearly to those willing to see.

Our service academies have churned out intelligent, educated, articulate, adept, obedient, mission-oriented military leaders. Those military leaders brought us My Lai. the Phoenix Program, and the Tiger Force during our stint in Viet Nam. The proven or merely alleged war crimes during that time stem from the academy-educated officers in the Pentagon writing reports, creating charts, consulting statistics, and trying to please ignorant political leaders (thereby keeping their jobs). In the field, they led an army of grunts who either volunteered because they loved the smell of napalm in the morning or were not intelligent enough to avoid being drafted. Everyone was a specialist, everyone had a niche; no one was responsible for things going awry.

The U. S. war crimes in Iraq are numerous and well documented; the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal is the most notorious, but certainly not an anomaly. For those interested in the long, sad list, Google u00e2u0080u009cA Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraqu00e2u0080u009d compiled by former U. S Attorney General Ramsey Clark and others. These incidents spring from an even more inbred mentality in the military than did the terrible misconduct in Viet Nam. Each person furthered his or her little bit of the effort. It was incremental immorality; creeping ethical erosion.

The spectacular and shameful examples above are merely whatu00e2u0080u0099s above the water in the archipelago shameful deeds brought about by our academy-trained military leaders and their civilian masters.

We train our military how to achieve a goal, but we donu00e2u0080u0099t train them to think about whether a goal is worthwhile. Curiously enough, this penchant we have in the United States to achieve a goal, to overcome a perceived hurdle, to prevail, is precisely what caused all the problems in Crichtonu00e2u0080u0099s Jurassic Park: no one ever asked u00e2u0080u009cshould we clone dinosaurs?u00e2u0080u009d, the money man could do it, so he did. Others had to contend withu00e2u0080u0094and die fromu00e2u0080u0094the consequences.

The problem is specialization: technocracy. Students at the Public Service Academy will be primarily concerned with how to achieve a goal, not whether or not the goal is worthwhile. We donu00e2u0080u0099t need that. We do need intelligent, educated, experienced people to run our government, but their education should be broad, not narrow. Their experience should span the globe, not be dripped intravenously into them by senior bureaucrats. And thatu00e2u0080u0099s what will happen if the Public Service Academy as itu00e2u0080u0099s now proposed comes about.

The causes of the problems are subtle, not imaginary. Read M. Scott Pecku00e2u0080u0099s People of the Lie. In it, Peck dealt with the notion of evil. Thatu00e2u0080u0099s not a hot topic for most folks, but itu00e2u0080u0099s a world reality. Based on his writings, the proposed Public Service Academy itself would not be evil and Iu00e2u0080u0099m not contending that it would be evil; however, I think that it would produce people who, because of their very narrow, specialized education, would bring about evil, just as the very narrow educations of officers from our military academies have brought about (unwittingly, perhaps) evil.

The above is very, very dangerous ground and youu00e2u0080u0099ve got to factor safeguards against the dangers in to any system that might arise in a Public Service Academy and, frankly, I donu00e2u0080u0099t think it can be done. The Public Service Academy will spawn evil because thatu00e2u0080u0099s what happens in closed, specialized systems.

Why do we need a separate public service academy? And what would be the admissions criteria for such an academy? Why would/should students want to attend such an institution? Is a "free" education the only incentive?

Shawn Raymond says it would fill a great need? What is that need?

I really don't see the point of segregating the concept of public service into a separate educational entity. So, how would doing so be advantageous?

Jason,

Thank you for letting folks know about the U.S. Public Service Academy idea that Chris Myers Asch and I have been working on for more than a year. The concept is simple, powerful, and would fill a great need. I strongly encourage readers of your blog to visit our website to learn more about our idea: www.uspublicserviceacademy.org.

Feel free to email me any questions: sraymond@susmangodfrey.com

Shawn Raymond
Co-founder, U.S. Public Service Academy

Yeah, very close philosophies. Thatu00e2u0080u0099s the idea, right?

Hmm this is interesting...

Mission of the USPSA: "developing leaders of character dedicated to service in the public sector",

and the mission of USAFA: "to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation."