Believe me, the vast majority of those young American Peace Corps volunteers may go out on their idealistic mission with a few naive and mushy ideas in thier heads, but they invariably come back home to the good 'ole USA 2-3 years later a lot wiser, a lot more conservative, and very patriotic and proud of America and her role in helping developing countries around the world.

The principal role and achievement of the Peace Corps volunteers isn't political at all, or even the tangible results of the various development projects, it's cultural. It's the successful projection of American values, and the progressive ideas formed in the minds of young people who grew up in a free, democratic society.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the 3rd world have an image of America formed by having met one single American in their lives - the young, idealistic Peace Corps volunteer who left his/her family, flew half way around the world, just because he or she wanted to help out. And despite whatever political beliefs the volunteer may hold, that positive attitude of eager volunteerism will in most cases project a very favorable image of America. In fact, that open, forward-thinking, positive attitude is the very thing some of the more enlightened 3rd world leaders and intellectuals are trying to instill in their own people.

The Peace Corps volunteers are the best ambassadors America has ever had, and the Peace Corps is one of the best 'aid programs' ever conceived by the American government, and at very low cost.

Here's a humorous story from my own experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa in the 1980's. I was with several volunteers and African high school teachers at a training center, and we were discussing an upcoming event, something rather trivial I recall, that the American ambassador would be hosting in a week. Now, this ambassador was not terribly popular, and given the relative unimportance of the event, we commented that we probably wouldn't attend. One of the Africans asked if the ambassador wouldn't be offended by that. One of us replied that if the ambassador was offended, he could simply shove it up his ass. The African teachers were both shocked and greatly amused by such an attitude. And it was also clear that they really wished they lived in a society free enough for such statements (even if silly) to be uttered, and such freedoms to be enjoyed. If any of them dared to say such a thing about an event to be hosted by the local governor, they'd probably spend a week in jail.