Earlier this week Barack Obama sent an e-mail to his supporters, urging them to help victims of the California wildfires. It was the first active call to service from the president-elect (his Change.gov website has a section devoted to his plan, and to emphasizing that service will be a cause of his presidency). One of Obama’s more prominent supporters–Arianna Huffington–was moved by the e-mail to write a very thoughtful post on The Huffington Post about the role of service in Obama’s vision for America. Key excerpt:

Obama has always said that a call to service would be “a central cause” of his presidency. “We will ask Americans to serve,” he said in a signature speech in July. “We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing challenges.”

Clearly, those challenges have never been more pressing in our lifetime. As unemployment hits a 14 year high — and heading higher — layoffs mount, foreclosures stack up, and local governments throughout America gird themselves for a coming wave of service cutbacks and hospital closures, we have metaphorical fires burning all across the country. Fires that threaten to turn into a social conflagration.

In the past, Americans could look to the safety net of social programs put in place by FDR during the Great Depression to mitigate the effects of an economic downturn. But, as Steven Greenhouse documented in Sunday’s New York Times, the U.S. has become a “far different place” since the recession of the early ’80s: unemployment insurance is less generous, welfare has been scaled back, as have job training and housing programs.

These holes in the social safety net make a commitment to service even more urgent. This is a moment where it isn’t enough to look to the government; it’s a moment where we need to look to each other — and to ourselves.

Obama clearly understands this. “In America,” he has said, “each of us is free to seek our own dreams, but we must also serve a common purpose, a higher purpose… Because, when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem — they are the answer.”

This statement speaks volumes about Obama’s belief that “government depends not just on the consent of the governed, but on the service of citizens.”

It’s well worth reading the full post, and feel free to add your voice to the comments. Service–particularly through this coming holiday season–is a great way for every American to show that they are ready for a new era of service. And if you want to get started, just go here, and plug in your zip code to find lots of service opportunities in your community.

Tree Planting in Puerto Rico: “We’ve got it covered, Arianna!”