Not To Say "I Told You So" But..

..yeah. I told you so. On September 13th, 2009, to be exact.

Here, I’ll even quote myself quoting someone else, to remind you:

At various times in American history, public service and private effort went arm in arm. After Pearl Harbor, Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam exhorted people to help the war effort, and Americans responded.
- A Time to Serve: The Case for National Service (TIME)

My friends, there is a big difference between “exhorting” and forcing! Yes, Americans responded – and you know what? They can do it again! Our entire cultural outlook is nothing but consume and waste, and that needs to change. But it needs to change within the people. It needs to change within the hearts. It does not need to change by the government handing every child a shovel before they let him enter the workforce.
- “National Service” or “Which Way Is Up?” (Pages Left Unturned)

Why the sudden hullabaloo about something I posted six months ago? Because of HR 1388, “The Give Act”. Hat tip to Albany’s Insanity on this one. Yet another lengthy bill for me to go read. Note adamant cheering. That’s from the already-twitchy part of my brain that actually enjoys research. It’s been a bit overloaded lately. In the meantime, I’ll give you more quotes and excerpts. I’m feeling a bit prophetic at the moment, even though I had nothing to do with the original “prophecy” except to rant about it. Yet it’s not the heady feeling you would expect. It’s the “so-how-illegal-am-I-willing-to-become” feeling of uncertainty and dismay.

So what would a plan for universal national service look like? It would be voluntary, not mandatory. Americans don’t like to be told what they have to do; many have argued that requiring service drains the gift of its virtue. It would be based on carrots, not sticks — “doing well by doing good,” as Benjamin Franklin, the true father of civic engagement, put it.
- A Time to Serve: The Case for National Service (TIME)

I’m not convinced.
- “National Service” or “Which Way Is Up?” (Pages Left Unturned)

And six months later, I’m still not. Want to know why? The answer is here:

From the Misc. section, #6104: (6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.

MANDATORY!
- Obama Requires YOU to Serve, HR 1388, “The Give Act” to reform the National Service Laws (Albany’s Insanity)

*twitch* I really need to sit down and figure out what it has to say regarding education. The original TIME article mentioned things like an “education corps”, and I need to see if that is part of this. In fact, I’m interested to see if several things from the TIME article pan out, such as:

Senators Christopher Dodd (Democrat, Conn.) and Thad Cochran (Republican, Miss.) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (Democrat, Conn.) have sponsored a bill that would support a service “rite of passage” for students before they begin high school.

Certainly sounds like it, eh?

Asch and Raymond were so dismayed by the government’s response to Katrina that they wanted to create a new generation of people who were idealistic about government. “We need an institution that systematically develops leadership,” says Asch. “We need to elevate it in the eyes of young people so we can attract the best and the brightest.” The idea has been endorsed by Hillary Clinton and Pennsylvanian Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who are co-sponsors of legislation that would allocate $164 million per year for the envisioned 5,000-student academy.

We already know Obama thinks the people should be idealistic about government. Why not make it a policy?

Every time an American baby is born, the Federal Government would invest $5,000 in that child’s name in a 529-type fund — the kind many Americans are already using for college savings. At a rate of return of 7% — the historic return for equities — that money would total roughly $19,000 by the time that baby reaches age 20. That money could be accessed between the ages of 18 and 25 on one condition: that he or she commits to at least one year of national or military service.

Out of curiosity, where is the federal government getting this $5,000? From its already rising deficit spending? Oh, that’s right. We’ve got this handy thing called the American people that we can just tax more in order to get what we need.

Says City Year CEO and co-founder Michael Brown: “It’s a new kind of government philosophy about reciprocity. If you invest in your country, your country will invest in you.”

It wouldn’t be our country investing in us… it would be like social security in a different format! We take it from you now, and you can have it back then. Assuming that, you know… we haven’t blown it on spending in a different area, and, ah… our money is still good for anything.

If it weren’t so saddening, I think I would actually be laughing about my comment regarding “assuming … we haven’t blown it spending in a different area”. Oh, the irony. There has got to be something contradictory about “mandatory volunteering”. Seriously.

And people wonder why I voted libertarian.

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