The Value of Universal Service

Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, and Tom G. Palmer, executive vice president for international programs at the Atlas Economic Foundation and senior fellow/director of Cato University at the Cato Institute, debate the nature and value of service to one's country. For decades, politicians and scholars have advocated programs that would require all 18-year-old citizens to commit 18 to 24 months to military or civilian service. Because there are many versions of this proposal, in this public debate Marshall and Palmer focus specifically on the version created by the Clinton administration.