God help us
This is what you elected, you terrible, stupid morons:
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.
I console myself in looking at history — that most presidents fail miserably at the things they plan to accomplish. I have hope that the same will happen here.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:51pm
“But why are you so against community service, Brandon?”
You’re right. I overreacted there. After all, there’s no better way to instill the value of charity than through forcing people to practice it. Go Obama!
November 7th, 2008 at 3:53pm
13th amendment:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
There’s one more part of the COTUS that he has shredded, and he’s only occupied the “Office of the President Elect” for 3 days now. He ought to have the entire document destroyed by 1/20/09.
Once that happens, I guess we will have to stop saying he hasn’t accomplished anything…
November 7th, 2008 at 4:03pm
Wow, my bro’s REALLY know how to par-tay! You light-hearted, fun-loving fools!
On a completely unrelated note, Brandon, you just stepped closer to rock-star status in the eyes of Mitchell and Katerina: one of the Jonas Brothers is diabetic.
Just so you know.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:03pm
Brandon,
If you’d actually do some research and read up a little on Obama’s plans for national service you would see this will be in exchange for assistance in paying for said person doing the community service to go to college. He mentioned it in the debates and it’s been covered extensively in Time Magazine as well (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1840636,00.html).
But then again, why research when you can spread F.U.D.?
Rob
November 7th, 2008 at 4:09pm
First, I do know that it’s in exchange for assistance. Then again, blacks received assistance in the form of housing, food, and clothing from their masters.
The point, Rob, is that it will be forced. My stupid blog format wouldn’t allow me to show that I emphasized a part in his proposal, that he will *require* community service from middle, high school, and college-aged kids.
There is nothing ‘voluntary’ about that, despite what he claims.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:13pm
It’s there and it’s bolded. It’s actually just black instead of bold, so I guess it’s “emphasized”.
And again, the community service will be a requirement of a voluntary program, just like the military. You can’t join the National Guard Reserves and expect money for college without spending your weekend-per-month or whatever with the service. It’s the same thing, just non-military.
Personally, I think it’s a great way to help people get to college without giving them a handout and without forcing them to do time in the military.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:29pm
We all know that gov’t programs, once instituted never change, and we also know that gov’t programs, as originally introduced, also never change. So since participation will be voluntary (per Rob, I don’t know where he got that, as the key word that sticks out on POTUS-e’s site is REQUIRED), it will never be expanded (since the gov’t doesn’t ever expand programs), so all will be fine. Obama did mention something about community service in exchange for college tuition during the campaign. Now that he has won, he says nothing about that, just that high school & college aged kids will be REQUIRED to do community service
The slippery slope just got a lot steeper, and the kool aid drinkers don’t (or won’t? admit it).
November 7th, 2008 at 4:31pm
Brandon, I just remembered that my sarcasm doesn’t quite come across with just plain text, can you fix that
?
I was being VERY sarcastic when I said that gov’t programs don’t change or grow. They always change & grow, almost always for the worse.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:34pm
Come on Ben, do you believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy by our government too? Take off your tin-foil hat.
You say you don’t know where I got the voluntary part from, but then you admit hearing about it during the campaign? Did you even bother to read that Time article I posted? Also, it’s an EXTENSION of the AmeriCorps service, which, wow, means a previously instituted program is changing?
Maybe we’re not the ones drinking the Kool-Aid?
November 7th, 2008 at 4:38pm
Heh, we were both typing at the same time
So assuming you were being sarcastic about government programs not changing, there’s the still issue of you believing the service is required when it’s an extension of AmeriCorps.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:43pm
According to Obama’s campaign site, the program will be voluntary. According to the change.gov website (which just got put up in the past day or so), Obama’s proposed community service initiative will require kids to participate. In my mind, voluntary and required aren’t exactly synonymous. But since 1) change.gov is newer than the campaign site and 2) we are dealing with the government here, whose entire purpose is to exercise coercive force, I’m going to assume it’s not so voluntary. And just as Ben said by quoting the US Constitution, involuntary servitude is (supposedly) illegal.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:46pm
And you don’t think that maybe in rushing to get that entire site up in two days they might not have been as explanatory as they should’ve been?
Since he’s said it in the past, it was on his campaign website, and he was elected, literally, days ago, I would think Occam’s razor applies and you’re blowing it out of proportion.
But maybe it’s just the Liberal Kool-Aid I was drinking earlier.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:05pm
Rob, I don’t know which to believe, because Obama HAS said both things. I do know not to trust politicians, and that is why I automatically figure that if there is a good way & a bad way (or in the case of gov’t programs, a bad way & worse way) to interpret a new program, I figure it’s the worst way.
I hope you are right, but I don’t want to just hope that through their benevolence everything will work out.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:07pm
Just remember what Reagan said. The 10 scariest words, “I’m from the gov’t and I’m here to help you.”
November 7th, 2008 at 5:09pm
I’m 100% sure that’s what he meant, because they say it’s part of the AmeriCorps, which is voluntary.
There’s no way congress (even a 100-member Democratic congress) would allow them to do what would amount to slavery.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:51pm
At least I still can hate gay people.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:54pm
… Let’s all just ignore Bob.
November 7th, 2008 at 6:12pm
What’s ironic is the related quote on that page:
“When you choose to serve …”
November 8th, 2008 at 5:20pm
The language seems to have been clarified:
“Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by *setting a goal* that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free.” (Hopefully asterisk emphasis works in comments)
We’ll see what ’set a goal’ means, but it seems a bit less forceful than ‘require’.