Episode 317- Unity Through Service. With Chip Webster

America doesn’t feel like it’s debating anymore. It feels like it’s detonating. 

We sit down with Chip Webster, founder of Unity in Service Incorporated, to talk about what he saw after five long RV loops around the United States and why it convinced him the country isn’t just politically split, it’s socially disconnected. From conversations in RV parks to the simple heartbreak of seeing “No Littering” signs surrounded by trash, Chip argues we’ve started acting like we’re renting the country instead of owning it. That mindset shows up everywhere: how we talk, how we vote, and whether we feel any duty to people outside our own bubble. 

Then we get practical. Chip lays out a clear framework for responsible citizenship, from voting and respect for law and order to steady volunteerism that puts you shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors who see the world differently. The biggest idea is universal national service: a one-year commitment after high school, with options that could include the military or civilian programs inspired by the Civilian Conservation Corps. We weigh the promise against today’s obstacles, including low participation in AmeriCorps, Vietnam-era lessons about exemptions, and the steep collapse in trust in government. 

We close with Chip’s poem “Microvalidations,” a reminder that big civic repair can start with small human moves: say hello, hold the door, look someone in the eye, and rebuild trust one interaction at a time. If you care about bridging divides, civic engagement, and national service as a path to unity, hit subscribe, share this conversation, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Season Welcome And Purpose

Announcer 0:00

Welcome to season seven of the Common Bridge, hosted by Richard Helpie, a leading analyst, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Now expanded with healthcare education, finance, science, and world affairs bridges, the podcast now in its seventh season, with an audience of over 7 million worldwide, explores issues in a fiercely nonpartisan way. Find us at the Common Bridge at Substack.com, YouTube, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.

Rich Helppie 0:32

Hello, welcome to the Common Bridge. I'm your host, Rich Helpe, and we've got a guest today, Mr. Chip Webster, who is the founder of Unity in Service Incorporated. Now, for those of you that are regular listeners, readers, and viewers of the Common Bridge, you know that we are trying to find common ground, common cause, common objectives, places we can work together, ignoring the political noise. And look, in this great constitutional republic that we live in, we've been able to do that for literally centuries. Things seem a little chaotic and a little tough right now, but today we've got with us Chip Webster, who's going to talk to us today about what he does. So, Chip, welcome to the Common Bridge. Thank you so much for taking the time with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Well, Rich, thanks for having me on. I'm anxious to have our conversation.

Chip Webster’s Career Turning Points

Rich Helppie 1:24

Well, great. Well, the audience of the Common Bridge like to know a little bit about our guests. So, you know, if you don't mind, could you give us a little biographic information? Where'd you start life? What's been your career arc? What are you up to?

What RV Travel Reveals About Division

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Okay. Started in California. Uh Orange County was where I was born, and then uh got dragged kicking and screaming to Chicago my senior year from Palm Springs. Uh it was quite a transition. Uh Chicago is a little bit cooler than Palm Springs, and then ended up in college in Iowa and went to work for Sears. I wanted to be president of Sears Roadbook and Company. At the time I joined them, they were two and a half times the size of the largest competitor, and they really dominated retail. Uh found that corporate life wasn't really my did a couple other corporate gigs and became more entrepreneurial. Uh and it was uh in a uh a period of transition that I got invited to be a vestige chair. I don't know if you're familiar with Vistage International. It's the largest CEO organization in the world. Um we put together uh small groups of CEOs, 12 to 15 CEOs that get together once a month and uh help each other build their businesses, and then the chairs do one-on-ones with them in between. So you become very intimately involved with these people's businesses. Uh I I was the chair for 15 years. There are groups that have been together for 50 years, that's how long they hold together, and had a couple IPOs as a result of the group, and then had some nonprofits in the group. Uh and then I uh retired and uh started thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up. And COVID came and we took a bought an RV and did five loops of the US uh in our RV, six-month trips. And it really became apparent to me that um we're we're pretty divided as a country. Um and as I describe uh one of the highlights of my life was getting, you know, the poet David White, and he used to say that the conversation is the relationship. And I believe that's true with couples, families, cities, and countries. And right now, as a nation, we're not having a conversation, we're having a food fight. And I don't believe that that's sustainable.

Rich Helppie 3:42

Well, when you think about that travel, and you said we're divided, did you see it down at the street level? I mean, I see the noise in the news and people writing stuff and like they're trying to cause alarm. What did you see face on?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Well, uh let me do two different tracks. One is, you know, you go to these RV parks and you get to know people and start talking to them. And you know, first of all, you talk about, you know, where did you get your tires and uh what RV parks to avoid, and then just into what's going on in the country. And every time it would get to a point where we're not happy with the director in the country, and then I'd say, well, it's our fault. And they'd look at me like I had two heads. But as you pointed out earlier, this is a democratic republic, and it is our fault. We have the government we deserve. And so from that I saw a disconnect with um the reality that that everybody has one vote, it's up to us to use it. The other side uh was just seeing the litter along the roads and uh the way people don't respect the country. I think a lot of people think they're renting the country instead of buying it or owning it. And uh an Air Force General once said nobody ever washed or rent a car. And what broke my heart the most was being in California, my home state, that I love. And I'd go into a rest area and it would have a sign, no littering. And literally there would be littered piled up to the bottom of the sign. You know, l no littering a thousand dollar fund. And I I just needed to write something. And then of course, if you if you watch the news and I try to listen to all sorts of outlets uh ranging from left to right, and they're not really addressing the issues. They're just talking about how the other person's bad. And of course, we listen to George Flori, George Floyd, and other horrible incidents in our history. And so I just thought somebody needs to we need to get together. And and probably the crowning thing is um made me feel best. I'm on the board of an organization called Tampa Bay Watch. It's a fabulous organization that helps uh clean the bay and helps educate people about the bay. We have a great discovery center and eco-tours. And the board is very diversified. And I'm chairman now. And one of my fellow board members who's probably never voted the way I have said, you know what's so neat about this is that we're working on something bigger than ourselves. Uh, that we're engaged in a project that doesn't matter whether you're left or right. It just matters that we're making the bay better. And I think that's what Unity of Service is about, a pathway to responsible citizenship. My book is to get people to think about how can they get engaged in the community? How can they break down these barriers, get out of the silos? COVID drove us into the silos even worse. And so it's exacerbated this division.

Unity In Service And Responsible Citizenship

Rich Helppie 6:45

I had to stay home and watch TV. Who knew? And look, I often say with my guests, when they tell me that the other is bad, I say, Well, how many people have personally know like that? Well, I can't think of anybody. Well, how do you know? Well, I saw it on this program where I read this, and like, oh, remember, those are the people that lied to you about this, this, this, this, and this, right? Well, yeah. Well, and now you believe them. Why is that? Tell me, what does Unity in service do? In a nutshell, what's the mission?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

It's a it's a nonprofit, and we have three objectives. One is to get people to understand what a responsible citizen looks like. You know, voting, uh, being willing to uh support law and order. If you don't have law and order, nothing else matters. Um the second is to get people to volunteer, you know, habitat for humanity. Um pick pick what you want to do. I do uh three nonprofits. Of course, one of them was Unity of Service. Um and I've gotten to know some really interesting people as all of that, and it's it's helped me understand people who look at things through a different lens. Uh and then the last, which I think is most important, and it's I've I've been told it's uh it's a long hike too, is universal service. You graduate from high school, turn 18, and you serve the country for a year in the CCC kind of projects, you can go in the military and follow their um model. But my model would just be a year where you get out of your hometown uh and go and um work on projects. If you remember, I don't know if are you familiar with the CCC?

Rich Helppie 8:24

The um Of course, yeah, Civilian Conservation Corps of the end of the depression.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Right, in the 30s. Uh we were out hiking in um Boise, just west of Boise in Caldwell, Idaho, and we're out walking around this this reservoir that's really cool. And the reservoir that was built allowed that particular valley to have crops before it was just arid. And we come to this little statue and it says CCC 1936, and national parks, dams. The people who did that had sweat equity in the success of our country, and that's what is so important in a democracy.

Rich Helppie 9:04

So the idea of unity and service would be uh a young person, some presumably sometime after high school, and probably some period, they will have a year of could be military service, it could be something like civilian conservation corps, it could be the Peace Corps, could be any of those things, but they will serve. And the intent is for them to have the satisfaction of creating something and also mix with people from different regions, different backgrounds, get to know folks as a human being. You know, I think there's a lot of merit in that. Have you been able to do any pilots on this to see if it might work in today's day and age?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

No. Um, well, of course, we have AmeriCorps that's going on right now. It's the federal program. And the challenge with the MiRCorps, from my perspective, is that only one half of 1% of the kids of that age are involved. So we're not breaking down any barriers, we're not moving any real dial. It's it has to be universal. Um I I don't know if you were old enough to live through the Vietnam War. Um, I was draft age, and um there's a song, Credence Clearwater Revival, you might remember. And with the lines in it is I ain't no senator's son.

Rich Helppie 10:20

Fortunate son.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, exactly. And and that was a position that was taken by our government and the way we operated that I think helped divide us at a very deep level.

The Case For Universal National Service

Rich Helppie 10:33

Here's a music trivia of that era. Do you know the song Two Plus Two equals Question Mark by Bob Seeger system?

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I do not. I probably heard it, but don't remember it.

Rich Helppie 10:42

Should look that up. It was a regional hit. You may not have heard it in California, but um talking about two plus two equals question mark. It's by Bob Seeger, not Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band, but the Bob Seeger system. Same guy, but you know, very early on. Um truly a iconic songwriter and uh performer, of course. And we kept him to ourselves up here in the upper Midwest for a while before we decided to let him go out and entertain other people. Um so there's not been a pilot. How might a year of service come about? Is there a legislative agenda, or are there champions in a state, local, or federal government that might be interested in bringing this forward?

SPEAKER_01 11:30

That's my journey right now.

Rich Helppie 11:33

I am tell me a little bit about places that you're getting support and places that you're getting resistance. And you can name names.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I haven't gotten to the point. I've talked to um General McChrystal, Stanley McChrystal, who tried for six or seven years to get a two-year program going. And I think he got frustrated and gave up. I've spoken to a few other people in Washington. Uh right now, uh a former congressman and I are working on a paper for um Braver Angels. I don't know if you're familiar with the Braver Angels organization. Um if we get uh accepted, will be presented in June in Philadelphia to their national meeting talking about um universal service, the the the good, the bad, and the ugly. But we have not um don't have the financial wherewithal to pay for a private. Um I I I'm just because of my experience during the um Vietnam War, I'm more inclined to say everybody has to serve, and if it's just one or two or people who um say, hey, I'm gonna be a doctor, so I don't need to serve, or I you know, I'm gonna be a pro-athlete, I don't need to serve. And studying um other countries in the world that have required military service um where they let people off, it causes the same divide that we had in the 60s. So it it seems to me it needs to be something that would be um legislated. Um the CCC was just a um executive order by Roosevelt. This would take a much bigger ask. Um I know that several congressmen in the past, I don't know if you remember Charlie Wrangell, uh the old you know, he he tried to get it across the finish line. It's never gotten out of uh committee.

Politics Barriers And Trust In Government

Commercial Speaker 13:27

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Rich Helppie 14:10

One of the things that I think the challenge would be this, Jim. Look, we were raised by the World War II generation. Yeah. And we all got our draft cards. And it was an expectation that you were going to get the draft card, and whether you liked it or not, that might tell you greetings, this is where you need to report to.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah.

Rich Helppie 14:28

And then they started giving the you know student deferments and and the like. And by the end of the Vietnam War, um, and I know many that were given the choice, okay, you've got jail time for you or the army. Of course, under the Nixon administration, we ended the draft. And then now we have a generation where fewer people have been serving in the Peace Corps or the military, and we don't have this expectation of a draft. So I'm trying to imagine our country today that says everybody universally, whether you're the clean-cut young man from Utah or whether you're a pink-haired, tattooed person with a nose ring from an urban center in the Northeast, y'all going and you're going to work together. I wonder how we could get there. And I would also say, look, in our political climate, where's the political wind behind that? And how do we get that into the Overton window? I mean, I think it's a good idea, but I have a different perspective from the just from you know time and grade on this planet.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Sure. Well, we probably I think we've probably been around similar decades. It's a it's a tough one. But here's here's the bottom line. In 1964, 77% of the Pew study, the survey, trusted the federal government. In 2025, the most recent survey, it's 17%. If you and I were running a business and we had that kind of result, we'd either be shot, fired, or um bankrupt or all the above.

Rich Helppie 16:04

Look, the company would be gone.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Yeah.

Rich Helppie 16:08

But if you look at the divide between, you know, we the people and our particular federal government, they are unresponsive. The whole game is to try to beat the other. And, you know, to your point about the break point about when people quit trusting the government, a very wise man that I know, he said Vietnam was the first time we realized our government had been lying to us, that they weren't telling us the truth. Because I worked with guys in factories that were telling me they were listening to the president saying we hit we've stopped the bombing in Cambodia while they were sitting in Cambodia getting bombed. This degradation's been a long time coming.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah.

Rich Helppie 16:48

And what can we show a young person to say, look, we think there's a better future if we all go serve for a year? How do we get that into the public consciousness?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Can I wander a little bit?

Rich Helppie 17:03

It's your time. Yeah, you can do whatever you want to do. I'm a practical guy and I love the idea, and I'm interested in the attempts to do this. I'm just looking at, all right, what barriers have to be overcome to make this a reality?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Us. Poga was right. We found the enemy, and the enemy is us. I think it takes a long-term campaign. And the first essence of it is freedom isn't free. People have to understand in a democracy, it is our responsibility. I in the beginning of my book, I say something of the essence of that either the government serves you or we serve the government. And in a democracy, a Democratic Republican is supposed to be serving us. Uh and I think we've drifted into where the government thinks we're serving them. One of the chapters I talk about in the book is uh Alexander Titler's Life Cycles of a Democracy. He said the last 200 years, this is in the mid-1700s. And it talks about you fight for your freedom, you get your freedom. From freedom, you have this the way I interpret this work ethic, and this that you work hard and get abundance, and then you get abundance and you get wealth, and then people start getting selfish, and then they start getting a little lazy, and then they expect others to take care of them, and you're back in bondage.

Rich Helppie 18:18

I don't think that's wandering at all. I think that is where we're at, which is why the basis of the question, we've given in to this victimhood Olympics. Uh, I am more downtrodden than you are. I deserve this or and that. And look, let's take the horrors of slavery. You know, I had a person of a political persuasion saying we need to do reparations. And I said, fine, if you can find descendants of slaves, let's talk about it. I have dead great uncles that are buried in southern battlefield. Do we have to pay the reparation? For the first time in this guy's life, he didn't have anything to come back with. And I only use that as an example of victimhood. And in the history of our country, there's been two groups that's been legally allowed to discriminate against. And they are black people of African descent and they are women. And we've taken strides to correct that. It's not corrected, but we're making progress on that. But again, it begs the question: I guess I should amplify that by saying now we get people more and more and more claiming they're a victim too, to where they come into the ultimate collision. So, in, for example, the last election in Boston Mayor, they didn't know whether to say, good, we had a minority elected as an Asian woman, or we had a privileged person elected because she's Asian, because Asians tend to do better academically. This is where we're at. So from these divisions, from these microcategories, how do we get people to say a better thing for us instead of competing in the victimhood Olympics? How do we get them to say, I'm gonna go spend a year doing something? How about the other end of the spectrum? People that are doing really well because of their ambition or maybe their inherited wealth, to get them to say, we're going to do a year of service. How do we get there from here? It's like look, I'm gonna make sure you understand. I think it's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Okay. No, no, no. I love it. I mean, I this is this is where I'm spending my headtime, a lot of it. No matter how hard we try, we cannot have a better past. And victimhood is about changing the past. And so what we need is a long I call it ad campaign, PR campaign. It's gonna take a lot. To first of all, stop whining about the past. Where are we today? What do we know today? And what can we do tomorrow to not repeat that mistake? I can't unbear a wounded need. I can't unslave slavery. Nobody can. What do we learn? And Orwell talks about you know that we have to he who controls the past controls the future. What he was trying to say, in my opinion, was you have to learn from the past. These people are tearing down statues and want to change revival revision of history are are destroying us. We have to say, get a leader who says, here's where we are, here's where we need to go, here's what we needed to get there, and we're all in this together. You and I need each other. What people don't understand is this ecosystem, economic social ecosystem, relies on us all contributing. And the more people we have that are not contributing, uh the less likely we are to survive. We are in a desperate. Ratio that if we keep doing what we're doing, our empire will fail. If you look at the failure of prior empires, many of them had to do with either overextension of the military or debt. We're working on both of those.

Rich Helppie 22:14

We had Professor Richard Leo Enos from Texas Christian University on, kept on a couple of times, and he says every empire that devalued their currency collapsed.

unknown 22:27

Yeah.

Rich Helppie 22:27

And we have done that.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

And we're doing it with debt.

Rich Helppie 22:30

Indeed. No, we're doing it the exact same thing. So, Chip, tell us uh as we come to our close here today, how do people get in touch with you and with Unity in Service? How do they reach you if they want to find out more about this or perhaps support the organization?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Unityservice.org is a website. Chip at unityinservice.org is my email. I'd love to hear from people.

Microvalidations And Final Takeaways

Rich Helppie 22:51

And I'm going to spell that out. It's Unity in Service, U-N-I-T-Y-I I-N-S-E-R-V-I-C-E.org. And it's chip at unityinservice.org to find out more about this. So, with our talk coming to a close today, what are some final words that you'd like to share with the listeners, readers, and viewers of the Common Bridge?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

It starts with us, each one of us, uh responsible for how we interact. One of the things I've noticed in my travels is that people are ignoring each other, not talking to each other. Can I read a short poem? Please. It's called Microvalidations. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. English proverb. Microclimates, microbiomes, microaggressions. We live in a microclimate. Microbiomes live in us. Microaggressions are part of life. What we need more of are microvalidations, microaffirmations. We become trapped in our silos. We become contemptuous of each other. Those who don't agree with us, they must not be human. Our country, our cities, our friends have become divided. We can't keep distancing ourselves from each other. We must all hang together, or most assuredly we'll hang separately, Benjamin Franklin. Our children, our grandchildren need to hang together need us to hang together for their future. The healthy democracy requires its citizens to work together to remain free. We need to see our interdependence and break down the barriers that divide us. We need each other. Start with micro-validations. Open the door for someone and say hello. Talk to your neighbors. Look people in the eye and acknowledge they exist. Reconnect with each other and reaffirm the humanists and everyone. We have to start at our level, one-on-one. Neighbors now don't trust each other. You look at all the studies, trust of organizations, it's all going down. The only thing that can turn trust around is us by microvalidations and micro actions.

Rich Helppie 25:03

Love one another, love each other. With our guest today, Mr. Chip Webster with a mission as the founder of Unity in Service Incorporated. This is your host, Rich Helpie, signing off on the Common Bridge.

Announcer 25:19

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