A Farewell to Altruism

AmeriCorps is the latest victim of a sadistic billionaire’s assault on public good

AmeriCorps NCCC was one of the most quietly noble programs in America. A full-time, residential national service corps made up of 18-to-26-year-olds, deployed in teams to communities in need. These young people responded to hurricanes and wildfires, helped build affordable housing, tutored children, restored trails, cleared invasive species, and supported nonprofits stretched thin. They traveled the country not for profit or prestige, but to serve. To help.

For many, it was life-changing. For the communities they served, it was often lifesaving.

And now it’s gone. Despite being funded by Congress, NCCC was deleted after a visit by DOGE. Staff were blindsided. Corps members were cut loose mid-service. There was no warning. No dignity. Just a sudden, cold, execution of a program that represented the best of what this country can be.

These were young Americans who signed up to serve. To give back. To do hard work for little pay, in places that needed them most. And now? They’ve been discarded. No jobs. No housing. No benefits. No explanation beyond some twisted crusade for "efficiency"—as if compassion, commitment, and community were bureaucratic waste.

And the damage doesn’t end there. Some of the corps members who’ve been told to “go home” have no home to go back to. NCCC represented a lifeline for them. It gave them food, shelter, purpose, and a way out of difficult circumstances in exchange for public service.

This Was No Accident

Let me be very clear: this wasn't a mistake or a “difficult cost-cutting measure.” It was cruelty by design. This was intentional.

They didn't just fire some federal employees. They dismantled the spirit of public service. They robbed the country of a generation of leaders who would have come out of NCCC shaped by experience, forged in service, and committed to something larger than themselves.

This wasn’t about saving money. It was about destroying belief in the idea that government can do good, that service can matter, that young people can change the world without a profit motive.

It’s a grotesque act. A betrayal of every ideal this country pretends to stand for.

And it’s not over. The Peace Corps is next. Conservation programs. More environmental protections. Every institution that exists to serve people instead of profit is now a target. AmeriCorps NCCC was just another domino.

This was a choice. A cruel, calculated one. Made by a man who thinks kindness is weakness and service is a waste.

And every one of us should be furious.

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Author’s Note: Before we start commenting, spare me the sanctimony about the national debt. That tired excuse gets rolled out every time a program that helps people is on the chopping block—never when we’re cutting taxes for billionaires, showering politically connected contractors with tax-payer money, or subsidizing oil companies. This administration doesn’t care about fiscal responsibility. They care about control. They don’t want to “make hard decisions”—they want to make cruel ones.

AmeriCorps NCCC didn’t break the budget. It lifted people up. It made this country better in quiet, tangible ways. And the idea that gutting it was some necessary sacrifice is dishonest to its core. If you’re cheering that decision, it’s not because you care about deficits. It’s because you resent the idea of young people serving others without demanding anything in return.

The debt didn’t kill AmeriCorps. A sadistic billionaire and the movement that enables him did.

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