You WILL volunteer, or we have ways... - Granite Grok

You WILL volunteer, or we have ways…

I’m on vacation so I’m going through some old emails – when I don’t have the time to pursue a topic for blogging, I email it to myself for later….so some of the ideas are old.  This one is, but it has rankled me for quite some time, especially since Obama’s declaration that he wants a civilian corp that will rival the military in numbers (and cost).

So, I finally decided to put this up (and have reformatted it to fit MY needs).  Get the oxymoronic headline in this article (military intelligence anyone?)

‘Mandatory’ volunteerism?Is it time yet?

OPINION by Rhonda B. Graham

Along with an end to the botched Iraq war, and a sustainable economic rescue, the idea that Americans at some point in their lives must do a volunteer stint to improve the country is worth pursuing.

I simply blame our educational system for not sufficiently teaching the meanings of words.  Not only basic definitions, but the nuances that come from using a word semantically within a context.  What this columnist is saying is that the State has the right to compel you to lose a part of your life just because they think it will be better for all of us and for you.

Look, I believe that in times of extreme national emergency, that is true.  In times of all out war (think WW II), a draft works to protect the nation.  But voluntary means voluntary – an act of will leading to an action solely by an individual.  Perhaps a bit of coercion by peers or family may play a role, but  not a legal one mandated by government "just because" someone thinks they know better than you.

Like Michelle Obama there have been many, many times when Americans of all political persuasions haven’t been proud of their country’s actions.

I agree – I hate the political correctness that our leaders are assenting to by Liberals because it is hate speech (even though it is protected by the First Amendment).  I hate the fact that our country allows the killing of innocent babies via abortion and won’t render justice to stone cold murderers found guilty by a jury of their peers.  I hate the fact that more and more of our freedoms to eat what we want (think trans-fats bans and L.A dictating what people can and cannot eat by not allowing fast food joints to build because poor people, they believe, eat stupid diets so we have to help them). I hate the fact that our Second Amendment rights are always under attack (re: D.C. vs Heller) because some people truly believe that guns are evil and not the small percentage of people that use them badly.  I am ashamed that there are those that are forcing our country to adopt laws and regulations with the belief that life should have no risks associated with it (thus, turning us all into wards of the State because we are eternally children in their eyes).

Yes, I despise these people who do this….but I love my country…all the time.

But enforced community service at this time in American history could bring immeasurable benefits to the nation’s psyche as it grapples with housing foreclosures, doped-up national sports heroes and serious challenges to our international image as world leaders.

Great, a returned to indentured servitude.  Or, to put it in a bad light, slavery?  At least with the former, I get something from it.  With the former, not so much! 

In the 80s, Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, coined the phrase volunteerism.  Somehow you always got the impression that the Gipper’s idea was about a duty to be inspired by patriotism, rather than the one that fuels it.

Once again, the idea of volunteerism is being perverted.  One volunteers because they see a need, not see it met, wish to met that need, without a thought of compensation.  In essence, altruistic goals.  And at times, it may well serve as a bolster to a feeling of being patriotic – a love of country and its people as it is and just wanting to make it better.

She, along with a lot of other liberals, believe that the action comes first, and then the belief.  While that can happen, and transformations do happen, it is not the norm.

Before leaving the presidential race Sen. John Edwards promoted community service through his One Corps program. Supporters in each state worked on service projects. Sen. Barack Obama proposes a "5-E Youth Service Corps" to get disadvantaged young people involved in service projects that focus on energy efficiency and the environment.

And these would be PAID – again, a perversion of volunteer.  These, in essence, are low paying jobs.  One could argue that they are of a "higher calling" – and I would disagree.  They are job training programs at best, make work down the ladder, or political patronage at its worst.

But Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, whose ideas on public service should get a better reception from voters than his recent bid for the Democratic presidential, gets its.  Dodd’s plan for an enforced comprehensive national service focuses on drawing upon "the very best of our character."

This would be the new American patriotism at work — a more insular approach that inspires that ubiquitous village as Sen. Hillary Clinton once encouraged, but not the bragging rights of missionaries to the third world as the Peace Corps became better know for.

Got that?  She truly believes that enforced servitude (there’s that silly notion again that runs counter to individual liberty) is actually patriotism.  And misses the point entirely – as does Obama and all these other clowns that believe that forcing someone to do something, perhaps against their will and under the force of legal action (and jail), will create a renewed sense of patriotism.

But the Dodd plan includes a particular position that’s worth pursuing by the next president because it drills down beyond the college-age graduate to the budding adulthood of all high school graduates.  Every student in America would be required to perform 100 hours of community-based service prior to high school graduation.

Encouraging, yes, Bribing, not really.  Forcing?  Not at all.  Again, they are missing the boat.  This action will not create patriotism from a mere 2.5 weeks of work (assuming 40 hours / week).  I also bet, counter to their beliefs, that it will not instill a sense of "serving others" later in life.

It would be a mistake to assume teenagers will appreciate clearing trash from highway shoulders or fishing out debris from public streams as their contribution to their community.

First thing she has said right so far.  Who wants to be FORCED to do yucky, low level skunk work just because someone from the truck or dry ground proclaims "Hey, you’re giving back!" (and I hate that phrase as much as "speaking truth to power" – what nonsense)!

The high school years are as much an impressionable age as a time when young people need to accomplish something that is impressionable.

And she gets paid for that gooble-de-gook of a sentence?  Oh my…

If the goal is inciting patriotism and pride of ownership at the local level, then targeting mandatory volunteerism to the learning process will be critical.

There’s another word for this – indoctrination.

He wants to "give every student in America an opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills while contributing to their communities and their own sense of pride."

This is not giving – this is forcing.  They are two totally different things with two different meanings from two really different philosophies.  One does not "give" something to someone by "mandating" that they do something.  This is about as slipshod philosophy as when Hillary’s campaign commercial during Christmas time when she was "handing out" gifts from the tree like Universal Healthcare.  The not so little joke is that her "gift" to us is going to be bought with our own money (not hers and not the government).

For instance, pairing up the Delcastle Vo-tech carpentry and general construction students with local Habitat for Humanity projects.

As a practicum, this makes perfect sense. Extra class credit, or HfH allowing themselves to be used as a real life learning lab for class credits for those that WISH to participate – I’m fine with it.

I did volunteer when I was in high school (racked up about 3,000 as a hospital "candy striper"- 3 guys and over a 100 girls, then later as an Explorer Scout in the same hospital) and again for hundreds of hours as a swim coach / official for a number of years in MA and in NH).  I had a blast!  But I did it because I wanted to and not that I was forced to. 

And that’s the way it should be.

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