government mandated slavery
 

Disclaimer: I cant take credit for writing this - one of my friends on myspace wrote it. I had heard about the 401K thing - Hubby said something to me yesterday about how he needed to find somewhere to hide his 401K money because we were going to be forced to "spread the wealth" but I hadnt heard about the community service thing.

Change we can believe in. YEEEHAAAA *rolls eyes*


I know, I know. Flame the "bitter republican." I can see that mandatory community service going over REAL well :rolleyes:

"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." - from http://change.gov/americaserves/

Maybe it's my interpretation of this, but it sounds as if its more of a reward system than a MUST DO kind of thing. I'm still looking through the rest of the info.

That's what it sounds like to me, too.

$4,000 for 100 hours of community service? $40/hour for a college kid is a hell of a lot better than working at the book center or waiting tables.

Darn, glad I read ahead.

To the OP, I don't think you're a bitter Repub. I think you saw something on your friend's Myspace page that you could relate to. Did you read up on this yourself or take your friend's interpretation for the accurate one?

Links to the John Locke Foundation and that whack-job Alex Jones. Centers of rational, broad-minded thought. Seriously, the levels of hysteria in some quadrants is mind-boggling.

Nah, you'll just get flamed for cutting and pasting from myspace, posting stuff from nut-job extremists and not even attempting to find a credible source to educate yourself with. Repubs and Dems alike get flamed for that sort of thing.

Before you post something so inflammatory, at least make some sort of effort to actually educate yourself on the subject.

The Universal Draft will never pass. Hasn't Rangel tried to pass it through a few times before?

I am really trying hard to understand how come any kind of community service for young people is not a good idea.

I imagine how non-profits suffer due to poor numbers of volunteers on their projects.

I'm looking at the middle/high school kids. What do they get for doing their 50 hours of service? The website is vague on how the program would work. I interpreted it to mean that college students who did 100 hours would get the college money credit. Also, I'm unsure if it wants college students to do 100 per year to get the money, or if they have to graduate before they get the credit, etc etc. There's alot of questions unanswered. At a swift glance though - it sounds to me that only college students really benefit for it. I cant imagine many middle/high schoolers enjoying doing community service "just because." I had to grow up a little bit more before I truly enjoyed giving back to the community.

What about the 2 year draft? Tthere would be those who would find medical reasons on why they should be spared, and other baloney excuses to get out of serving in the military. Plus, the military already has a bunch of "voluntary" dirtbags as it is, why put the soldiers (who want to be there) lives in danger by having them HAVE to depend on some dirtbag kid who is forced to be there? I know the draft was normal way back when, but times have changed. People don't look at military service as a sense of duty and something youre "supposed" to do anymore....

I wasnt trying to start an argument or anything - just found the info to be interesting....and I seriously wonder how it's going to work and be effective. There's going to have to be an incentive for it.....

Yes, he's tried passing that legislation through several times. I guess he was attempting to "spread that wealth around"--like many other countries do already...

I'm thinking of people with bad attitudes who dont want to be there because they feel like they've got better, more important things to do. As someone who might be interested in doing the community service, I would hate to get behind in whatever it was I was doing because I was working with some slacker who was holding me back.

Yes, actually, the first time Rangel proposed it, in 2003, it was a reaction to the war in Iraq. Rangel had made a statement at one point that if more lawmakers had sons or daughters in the military and thus were likely to have children called up to serve, it might have changed their view on the war. So he was trying to make a "point" as it were, with the legislation (which garnered almost no cosponsors and only received 2 votes -- again, Rangel always knew it wouldn't pass).

Then he reintroduced it in 2006, it didn't get any cosponsors and I don't even think it went to committee.

And then he reintroduced it in 2007, I think it garnered 2 whole cosponsors this time and was sent to committee, where it was sent to subcommittee, where it was never taken up, so languished and died.

Your tone has changed and that's okay. So you really just want to discuss this versus wanting to criticize an elected-administration based on your friend's Myspace interpretation of questionable references. :)

Yes, your very tame and non-inflammatory thread title supports this.