‘A republic like ours cannot long survive if only 1 percent of the nation is required to carry all of our burdens,” Congressman John Larson told graduates and their families at Central Connecticut State University’s commencement as he announced legislation that will develop “a new form of selective service for the nation” and, in the process, help young Americans burdened with overwhelming student loan debts.

The 1st District Democrat and senior member of the state’s congressional delegation said the legislation he and Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts will introduce would greatly expand national service programs like the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and Teach for America that are currently forced to turn away volunteers because the government lacks the funds to take on all those who apply. AmeriCorps, sometimes called the domestic version of the Peace Corps, had 80,000 positions for more than 500,000 applicants in 2011.

“So many people want to serve, want to give back to their country, their communities,” said Rep. Larson, “it occurs to me we should be encouraging the impulse to serve, not stifling it.”

Rep. Larson’s legislation would forgive portions of past or future student loans of those who serve in the armed forces as well as those who elect to take part in other forms of public service for two years.

“After all,” said the congressman, "if the nation can bail out and forgive Wall Street after the worst financial crisis since the great depression, can we not help those that are burdened with the most crushing debt of a generation?” Indeed.

Having many more young people entering public service would present challenges as well as opportunities. Even though the volunteers in the various service organizations would receive little pay, administrative costs will be high. But in endorsing a very ambitious national service program in 2007, TIME Magazine estimated the annual cost at no more than two months of the Iraq war, then at its height, or about half of what the government spends annually on prisons.

In the past, various forms of national service have been supported by leaders of both parties, from John Kennedy, who founded the Peace Corps, to Ronald Reagan, whose California Conservation Corps energized young people to serve under the motto, “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions.” The eminent conservative William F. Buckley wrote that national service “ever so slightly elevates us from the trough of self concern and self devotion.”

And when she was in the Senate, Hillary Clinton joined Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in sponsoring legislation for a National Service Academy, similar to the armed forces academies, that would provide students a four-year college education in exchange for a five-year commitment to public service. We would like to see Ms. Clinton and some of her potential opponents investigate and perhaps embrace national service possibilities.

Supporters of national service have correctly noted that in order to survive, a republic needs not only the consent of the governed, but also their active participation — beyond paying taxes and voting.