Volunteerism, the Lifeblood of the Party
Lynda Cox, Davis County
From the earliest days of the founding of America, volunteers have been the life’s blood of our great country. From the minute men militia, to our first president, Americans have always stepped into the gap and served. Even George Washington, despite personal financial hardship, refused payment for much of his public service because he felt a duty to our fledgling land. There is something magical in voluntarily giving of your time, efforts and energy to good causes. When people band together out of an inner obligation and desire to do good, there is no limit to what can be accomplished. Indeed, one of the chief reasons the United States can boast of the greatest military in the world is because those that serve in our armed forces do so of their own free will and choosing.
The opposite of voluntary service is compulsory service. Compulsory service is generated from external forces rather than the internal motivation and desire that fosters volunteering. When you voluntarily give of your time, effort and energy to a cause you believe in, you take ownership of that cause. It becomes part of who you are, and you give your best self to that effort because you want it to succeed. It brings to my mind the concept of parenting. As parents, we volunteer in the lives of our children. We give them 100% of who we are and what we have because we want, more than anything, for them to lead successful happy lives. We want their lives to positively impact our communities, states and the nation. Conversely, the compulsory form of parenting would be babysitting. While there are many, many wonderful babysitters, their main goal is to ensure a happy, well fed and clean child is returned to their parents in exchange for a fee. They are not generally concerned with the impact that child will have on the future of the country. If we can look at the Republican party of Utah collectively as our child rather than a charge we have to watch for our short tenure, we can do amazing things together.
From an economic systems perspective, compulsory service equates to socialism or communism and voluntary service equates to free-market capitalism. As republicans, we advocate for free-market capitalism. Why? It’s because we know when people are free to make their own economic and business decisions, the entire nation fares much better than if the government, or some external force, dictates to them where and how their efforts should be spent. Socialized systems demand more from fewer under a heavily regulated and controlled environment, creating a high barrier to entry. Free-market capitalism allows as many as possible to give as much, or as little as they would like. The same is true of organizations. When people freely give of their time and efforts in whatever capacity they are able, great things happen. If the Utah GOP had to rely solely on employees, our costs would be high and our output inefficient. Volunteers that give of their availability as their schedules allow, enable the party to effectively and efficiently execute the business of the party. Volunteers are the lifeblood that allows us to elect republicans across the state and send republican representatives to Washington, DC to continue to positively impact the nation. Utah is America’s best kept secret. Let’s all pitch in and help the party let the secret out of the bag.