11-10-2012
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Inspiring a
Culture of Service
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Subject: Making "Voluntary" Service Mandatory —
One Step At A Time
It was the Obama Administration's push for the institution of a
national service program back in 2009 that was the impetus for my
original essay launching the
John Galt Pledge,
along with this accompanying blog. You can find past articles on
the subject in the archives under Service.
During the first term, government sponsored organizations like the
Corporation for National
and Community Service received massive increases in federal
funding, with the intent of allowing them to place millions
of new workers (improperly called "volunteers") on the federal
payroll at taxpayer expense. However, the protracted fights over
Obamacare and the budgets diverted attention away from work designed
to transition these programs into a mandatory requirement of National
Service for every citizen.
The reelection of Obama to another four year term portends ominous
possibilities in all areas or life including national security, health
care, economic stagnation, inflation of the currency, further erosion
of the rule of law, and increased intrusion into the private lives of
every citizens. And as I have been predicting for quite some time,
it will also reactivate the push to dramatically expand programs for
national servitude. Well, it didn't take long.
An organization called Service Nation,
which prides itself in having:
"played a leading role in the drafting and April 2009 enactment
of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which authorized the
greatest expansion of national service in America since the
creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great
Depression."
has just published an article which details their renewed commitment
to these activities.
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What Does The Election Mean For National Service?
Here's what the reelection of President Obama means for
national service:
In 2008, then Senator Obama pledged to make national service
a cause of his presidency. In the first 100 days of his
administration, he turned his pledge into action by signing
the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act — the boldest
national service legislation since the era of FDR. The bill
promised to more than triple AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000
AmeriCorps by 2017, to grow Senior Corps, and to advance
impact volunteerism and proven social innovation.
Unfortunately, the growth of national service stalled when
Congress and the President did not invest fully in the promise
of the Serve America Act. Today, we have about 80,000
AmeriCorps members when the number should be 140,000 and
growing. There are also 100,000 fewer Senior Corps members,
and the entire Learn and Serve America program was eliminated.
As the President and Congress focus on fiscal priorities, they
must spend limited resources on efforts that return financial
and social benefits. National service meets this test.
National service unites political parties, trains young
leaders, tackles problems, and reinforces commitment to
country.
With so many Americans looking for jobs, so many challenges in
our communities and schools, and our nation looking for unity,
national service should remain a top priority. It should not
only be the cause of a presidency, but also a cause of our
nation.
In last night's victory speech, President Obama said: "The
role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote.
America has never been about what can be done for us. It's
about what can be done by us, together."
That is exactly right. We need to demand that the President
and Congress fulfill their promise to expand opportunities for
Americans to serve their nation. The only way this will
happen is if you speak up, take action, and we work
collectively and relentlessly moving forward. Will you take
a first step by sharing our "1 Million New Jobs" petition on
Facebook and Twitter?
Onward,
Ken, Zach, Morgan, Jerry, and the entire ServiceNation +
ServeNext team
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As a consequence of the rapidly increasing size and scope of the
entitlement state coupled with the very real difficulties of paying
for all of these unearned benefits, I predict that during the coming
months there will be renewed calls by politicians for the institution
of a mandatory national service program, giving the government access
to a massive pool of cheap labor to carry out it's programs. All of
this will be justified as being only fair that Americans be asked
to "give back" something in payment for all the goodies being
dolled out to them by their benevolent masters.
Once this is accomplished, the Civil War will have been fully undone
and the 13 Amendment which reads:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as
a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction."
[Emphasis added]
without challenge, will simply have faded out of existence.
External links to reprints of this article:
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