Advocacy Essay

A Memorandum

Dear Mr. President,

As you already know, the current status of the economy of our beloved motherland is quite desperate. I’m sure that in your short tenure as president and the days leading up to your inauguration, all sorts of ideas for repairing the economy have flown across your desk, and I have faith that you are taking every necessary measure to salvage our scuttled economy, but I ask that you allow me to present one more idea that I believe will be go down as one of the strongest actions taken to revive the economy and keep our country marching into the future: reinstate the Civilian Conservation Corps, and other organizations like it. Before we look at what the CCC could do for our economy today, let’s look at the history of the organization.

In the year 1933, the United States was in the middle of the greatest domestic threat it had ever faced: the Great Depression. Banks were dropping like flies, millions were unemployed, the stock market had crashed and wasn’t recovering, America was desperate, and a new president had just been elected with high hopes that he could rescue the nation. Sound familiar? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt acted swiftly to put a new idea into action: the Civilian Conservation Corps. As Roosevelt looked at the country that he had been handed, he saw the millions of young men who were unemployed and looking for work, and the millions of acres of United States soil that needed conservation or development as two great wasted resources. In the CCC, Roosevelt found a way to put both resources to work for their country. He enlisted thousands of young men to join up, organized them into work camps, and put them to work on projects that our country is still reaping the benefits of over seventy years later. The CCC planted trees, built roads, hung power lines, constructed fire towers, and worked to conserve the environment. Each man was paid good wages, and given money to send home, which helped not only the workers and their families, but also the local economies. The workers were taught marketable skills and work ethic, as well as educated in the camps during non-work hours. America saw an entire generation of people that were pulled up from despair by the programs and work of the CCC.

Now let’s look at today. Just like the thirties, our economy is in a bad way. I think you’re probably pretty familiar with the economic similarities of our two times. Also like the Depression era, we are facing the wasting of two great resources: our young people and our environment. I humbly suggest taking a page out of Roosevelt’s book and starting a program similar to Roosevelt’s CCC. The benefits of such a program could be as good as or better than the results that Roosevelt saw during his presidency. It would give young men and women a solid employment opportunity, teach them valuable life skills, utilize our great resources, and get some work done that will profit our country for years to come.

It’s no secret that our country’s unemployment rate is high and rising. The most immediate effect of reinstating the CCC would be immediate employment of young men and women in our country. Nothing could be better for our economy than employing people, and giving them a living wage to reinvest in the economy. The original CCC workers were paid $30 a month, with $25 going back home to their families, jump-starting the economies at home and in the camps, and giving the workers the means to make a way in the world. Quite obviously, the wages would need to be readjusted in a reinstated CCC, since $30 isn’t exactly a living wage these days. I understand that paying wages would be pretty expensive, but I suggest that direct employment would be a superior alternative to billions of dollars worth of company bailouts. With a direct employment program, we find a synthesis of the “give a man a fish,” and the “teach a man to fish” philosophies. This style of program would not only give the workers involved and their families the immediate means to squeak by for another day, but also give them the life skills and job experience required to prosper for an entire lifetime.

One of the most important qualities of the original CCC was that it took a large brood of city-slickers and taught them the work ethic and labor skills that they needed to continue to be productive members of society long after their tenures with the CCC had expired. This gave our country an entire generation of hardworking laborers to form the working-class, backbone of the American labor system. In addition to vocational training, the CCC also provided after-work education to the laborers. In this day and age, a good education is all but required to get most jobs, and unfortunately, many of our young people don’t have the educational opportunities that they need. A revived CCC would offer them not only the vocational training required to do their immediate jobs, but also the education needed to succeed in life and put the United States back on the production track to keep its seat as the world’s leading industrial nation.

Finally, the work of the CCC could be extremely beneficial to our country. If administrated correctly and creatively, the whole operation could easily pay for itself. It’s not inconceivable that it could even become a source of revenue for the United States (of course, the mission of the CCC would have to be retooled from being conservation-driven to profit-driven). A few possible projects for the New Conservation Corps: build offshore and onshore oil-mining operations, invest man-hours in alternative and green energy, restore our nation’s forests, reclaim lands ravaged by bad mining and farming operations, clear swamp land, irrigate fields, build and fix roadways, run power lines, bring disaster relief, and renovate areas of urban decay. Just as the original CCC had done, the New Conservation Corps, could complete projects that will remain and be remembered for years to come.

Reinstating the Civilian Conservation Corps would be one of the best measures that we could possibly take to revive our struggling economy. History shows that the CCC is a popular and effective program that benefits workers, families, and the economy. It is my less-than-expert recommendation that you make the New Conservation Corps one of your first initiatives as new president.

Works Cited

"Brief History." Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy Home Page. 02 Feb. 2009 .