The 2% Forbes solution to a well-armed Live Earth

Dwayne Hunn, Executive director, People’s Lobby

One by one, Angelina Jolie is adopting the world’s disadvantaged children. George Clooney and dad are documenting the plight of refugees and poverty. MoveOn’s electronic town hall is moving participants and donors with more than bits and bytes. Buffet and Gates are trumping by $30 billion what Turner gave to address United Nations’ causes. The wooden Gore has Bon Jovi and Madonna gyrating before billions to keep the Earth Live…

What’s going on?

Just some big-name, big-cause propelled videos? Or is the Silent Majority about to move from dreamy TV rooms to rugged fields of needs? Or will this elites’ eye-catching Fantasy Live Earth also pass, and the masses again be left enduring poverty’s aftermath?

For that minuscule percentage of Americans who calluse hands and tear-up eyes working among the needy at home or abroad, hope springs eternal that more comfortable Americans will step out to learn about and attack poverty, AIDs, ignorance, etc., as well as climate change.

In a seven-billion person world, much more than entertainers and a handful of workers are needed. The world needs an army of peaceful, productive Americans, bolstered by similar armies from other nations, to bring smiles to a hurting Live Earth.

With an Endless Terror War morphed from a preemptive incursion, with special interest money dominating politicians campaigns and their work days, with iPhones sending us more vicarious experiences… will our system create such a 21st century army?

Involving the likes of Jolie, Clooney, Gates, Buffet, Gore, etc... provides the attention attracting baby steps the world likes to see. The Earth, however, needs giant leaps for mankind that comes from armies that leave community rather than death and destruction in their wake.

You can help create that peaceful, productive army by pushing Congress and other opinion leaders to enact People’s Lobby’s citizen-initiated American World Service Corps (AWSC) Congressional Proposals. www.WorldServiceCorps.us

In August, People’s Lobby www.PeoplesLobby.us begins face-to- face discussions with Washington D.C. congressional staffers. Our goal is to garner enough bipartisan cosponsors to pass and implement the AWSC proposals. The more Americans who understand the benefits of fielding a robust AWSC, the more likely America will quickly move from baby words and visuals to needed giant actions.

What is the American World Service Corps?

If the citizen-initiated congressional American World Service Corps (AWSC) proposals were enacted this year, it would ramp up until by the seventh year one million Americans would voluntarily serve at home or abroad in their choice of the: Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity, Head Start, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, International Rescue Committee, OxFam, Mercy Corps, State Conservation Corps, etc. It would operate at that level for 20 years before considering sun-setting.

Upon completion of service, volunteers would receive their choice of:

· Two years of community college plus two years of state college or vocational tuition.

· An equivalent amount paid into a Medical Savings or IRA account, or as home down payment, or tax credit, or the same donated to friends or foundations.

· Plus a cash readjustment allowance equal to what a Peace Corps Volunteer receives.

What the AWSC would do

Implementing the AWSC strengthens America at home and abroad by:

· Giving those who serve an indelible education in the classroom of the world.

· Raising America’s political IQ and thereby implementing smarter world policies.

· Winning hearts and minds by improving living conditions and thereby erasing radical “isms.”

· Meshing opportunity and responsibility between AWSC volunteers and those with whom they work.

· Building an army of can-do Americans always ready to handle hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters.

· Strengthening national pride and cohesion by drawing a mix of Americans into inspiring national service through existing governmental and non-governmental agencies.

In the 50’s and 60’s, America with its strong and growing middle class was engaged in a Cold War with a threatening “ism.” “Ugly American” was a well-know image hung on Americans when John Kennedy became president in 1960. By 1961, his Peace Corps began changing that ugly image. Today America, with a burdened and shrinking middle class, is engaged in a Terror War with another “ism,” and America’s policies are tagged with an uglier image.

Kennedy quickly wanted the Peace Corps to reach, “A million… then it would be considered significant…” Thirty-six years later only about 150,000 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers have served abroad.

Among the 21 nations that make up the Middle East, South and East Africa, and Indonesia, about 910 million mostly Muslims reside. Early in 2007, only 56 Peace Corps Volunteers were serving among them, all in Jordan.

We won’t contain a morphing Terror War with missiles. We will contain it with American volunteers erasing the seeds of poverty, ignorance, and hatred that breed terrorism.

Cost-effectively fielding a million American volunteers a year for twenty-seven years is doable. People’s Lobby proposes seven revenue streams to fund the AWSC investment in our future. With bold, visionary presidential leadership, just one of those streams, our painless Forbes Richest 2% solution, can totally fund the AWSW. The 2% solution will make heroes of those 400 billionaires who embrace it, as well as the president who convinces them to be heroes while on earth.

Presidential candidates continuously lobby our richest to finance their campaigns. Wouldn’t using those fundraising to inspire the Forbes 400 to donate 2% of their $1.25+ trillion of accumulated wealth be a more effective means to rebuild the earth, expand their wealth, and establish the finest electoral tradition.

When Ted Turner donated his one billion in 1997, he said:

“There are so many rich guys in the world, billionaires. The world is awash in money and nobody knows what to do with it. We don't want the money they know what to do with, just the money they don't know what to do with."

People’s Lobby 2% Forbes Solution and six other AWSC financing mechanisms are at http://www.worldservicecorps.us/financing_awsc.htm

The world needs more suffering kids adopted. Needs more disturbing documentaries seen. Needs more Inconvenient Truth power point presenters…

But to take the next giant leap for mankind, the world needs a million Americans a year serving under the umbrella of the American World Service Corps (AWSC). A healthy Live World can’t wait.

AWSC summary info with links to details is at

http://worldservicecorps.us/peoples%20lobby%20has.htm

What better way to:

· Create a Live Earth than by helping People’s Lobby’s citizen-driven non-partisan American World Service Corps Congressional Proposals become law.

· Build a smarter, more peaceful Earth than by having a million productive American volunteers serving and learning in it.

· Fund the American World Service Corps than to inspire the Forbes Richest 400 to finance it with just 2% of their accumulated wealth.

Cosponsor People’s Lobby’s American World Service Corps Congressional Proposals