I thought this op-ed in the Badger Herald was great: http://badgerherald.com/oped/2009/01/27/service_emphasis_goo.php. Before I came to the U.S. Public Service Academy I did research through the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the things I came across again and again is that social connectedness is linked with happiness.  Many psychological theorists have posited that the increasingly individualistic nature of American society has led to a decline in social connectedness and, perhaps, a “depression epidemic.” Money does not seem to make much of a difference in happiness levels once people are past a subsistence level: even as living standards rise, depression rates are stagnant or may increase.  Getting Americans and young people more involved in service is a way to make them more socially connected, less individualistic, and surprisingly, probably happier.

It’s a busy day at the U.S. Public Service Academy.  ABC News in DC just called to schedule a segment.  Academy founder Chris Myers Asch is doing a radio interview in Baltimore soon and we’ve been meeting with members of congress.  Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks and University of Kansas student Tyler Roberts wrote about the Academy — the Rodricks link is on the website and the University Daily Kansas link is below. We also just got a new twitter account that we’ll begin to update regularly.  To get involved, just go to http://twitter.com/USPSA.

http://www.kansan.com/stories/2009/jan/27/holmes_united/?opinion

Watching Barack Obama’s inauguration speech yesterday, I was struck by the following words: “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big, or too small, but whether it works.” When I think of the most important goals of the U.S. Public Service Academy, I think of making government work better, by making it more efficient and training future leaders in the public sector. Some people (e.g. libertarians) may prefer smaller government, while others (e.g. progressives) may prefer larger government, but it seems that most of us can agree that we want a government that works.  Building the U.S. Public Service Academy is one way to invest in a government that works because we are investing in its future leaders.