Obama's Proposed Chief of Staff Favors Compulsory Universal Service
by J.D. Tuccille: Rep. Rahm Emanuel wants to force people 18 to 25 to labor for the government.Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, President-Elect Barack Obama's choice for chief of staff in his incoming administration, is co-author of a book, The Plan: Big Ideas for America, that calls for, among other things, compulsory service for all Americans ages 18 to 25. The following excerpt is from pages 61-62 of the 2006 book:It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service. ...Emanuel and co-author Bruce Reed insist "this is not a draft," but go on to write of young men and women, "the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service." They also warn, "[s]ome Republicans will squeal about individual freedom," ruling out any likelihood that they would let people opt out of universal citizen service. As chief of staff, Emanuel will not be in a position to directly introduce public policy, but his enthusiasm for compulsory service, combined with Barack Obama's own plan to require high school students to perform 50 hours of government-approved service, suggest an unfortunate direction for the new administration.
Here's how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They'll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state or community, where they will learn what to do in the event of biochemical, nuclear or conventional attack; how to assist others in an evacuation; how to respond when a levee breaks or we're hit by a natural disaster. These young people will be available to address their communities' most pressing needs.
Tags: Barack Obama, compulsory universal service, Rahm Emanuel, white house chief of staff To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 4:54 PM - Post Link
3 Comments:
I did much more than 50 hrs community service, voluntarily, between the ages of 16 and 25. I wasn't crazy about it at first, over time I liked it more and more. It is a great way to meet new people and try new things - I would have never had the job of 'zoo halloween decorator' for a day, or 'soup kitchen chef.' One thing service like this does is drive out apathy. It is harder to be apathetic to the nation's homeless once you've met them face to face and helped them. There is too much apathy in our country today.
All that being said, I did service mainly to get into a good college and help get scholarships, but that doesn't change that it is a basically 'good' thing for a person to do. What the hell kind of person are you to argue against helping others, or being prepared for a disaster? Do you go around campaigning for burning down libraries and drowning kittens too?
"Anonymous" was on the way to making an interesting argument before he/she ran off the track with the last two sentences. Being trained for natural disasters is education not community service. When I was young, we all learned about the potentials of nuclear disasters. That was "education." But expecting the young to be the people to be trained to control the rest of society in a natural disaster makes no sense.
And where did the off-track comment on campaigning for burning down libraries and drowning kittens too? If "anonymous" were to study history, he/she would know that aspects of their comment were taught in Hitler's Germany as he trained the youth via compulsory training of the Hitler Youth -- it was okay to burn library books and personal book collections and in the Gestapo training of newly inducted young members they also used a training / indoctrination process of personally killing their assigned pet dogs to reduce their feelings of compassion.
It is great that one chooses to do community service. As for myself I was drafted and served in the military. But the issue is not community service but "compulsory" community service. Almost like being ordered to do community service as part of a correctional plea agreement. We live in a free country and unless we are at WAR, we should not be mandating any requirement on ALL the people even if it is only a ALL the young people. I continued to serve in the military for 22 years giving up access to certain freedoms granted to others in a commitment to support the right for others to have a freedom of choice not compulsory service.
This will spread to all ages not just the young.
Withholding diploma's and federal aid is a "motivator" for schools, parents and college students to toe the mark.
But what measure of leverage will be used against older adults and our senior citizens? One has to wonder how far the "leadership" in Washington will go to force Americans to work against their will.
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