Thursday, November 13, 2008

Obama And National Service - Bribing America's Youth

Obama has backtracked, as usual once a campaign is over, on another campaign promise. This backtrack is concerning a mandatory community service corp much like those practiced in socialist countries with cult leaders.

Now, instead of forcing his vision down the throats of mere Americans that don't like government much, the One has clearly started emphasizing the carrot versus the stick to attract the young to his vision of a 'changed' America and he's doing it Chicago style. He's going to bribe them.

Obama’s Call for Community Service Is Not Marxism
There are already many high schools in the United States which require community service credit for graduation. Some schools require seniors to complete a project that includes some form of community outreach.

If the high school where my kids went or the high school where my grand niece, who is living with us, mandated this, I'd tell them to go to hell. This is a family decision and a family's teaching and is not the purview of a bunch of unelected faceless and nameless bureaucrats doing the bidding of a cult figure. It takes away freedom in the name of "freedom" and is un-American.

On the college level, Obama’s plan would ensure a $4,000 tuition credit to students who complete 100 hours of community service a year. With the cost of college education soaring, that $4,000 is like a windfall to a college student. The student would be rewarded monetarily, but the reward of completing service toward the community is something that will stay with them, as well as the community, forever. Service to others is a lasting gift.

So then, it's now not mandatory, but it's also not community service either. It can't be community service if students are getting paid for it. It's either paid service or a bribe.

This is not socialism. This is not Marxism. This is the mark of a country that knows it needs to rely on those who can to help those who can’t. It’s the mark of a country that knows it needs to depend on its citizens to make their communities flourish. It’s taking the “ask not what your country can do for you” attitude and transforming it into smaller clusters, where we ask what we can do for those we live with and around, instead of waiting for people to do for us. It’s how communities become stronger, how they grow, and how a strong, giving community makes for a strong, giving nation.

Community service is not a dirty word; nor is it an idea to be tossed aside because you don’t like who is delivering the message about it. Encouraging our youth to take part in something selfless is encouraging them to be better human beings. What could be better for this country?

It is on the road to socialism and community service has always been a laudable quality in America, much more so than any other country in the world, but community service has now become a buzz word for leftist causes and subtle indoctrination. That the left now wants to use bribes or make community service mandatory does not make a better human being nor is it any good for this country nor will it make this country better.

Take your idea and your bribe and shove it Obama.