While we're not pranking, here's an article on the coming Obama Youth program: National Disservice.
The GIVE act calls for the appointment of a Congressional Commission on Civic Service, raising the obvious question of whether congressmen deserve vastly more power over other Americans. But in Washington logic, since volunteering is a good thing, everybody should be forced to do it.
The commission will examine “the effect on the nation ... if all individuals in the United States ... were required to perform a certain amount of national service” and “whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed.” It will also consider whether tacitly repealing the 13th Amendment prohibition on involuntary servitude “would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.”
Would political subjugation produce moral uplift? The Beltway answer: of course—because politicians are the nation’s leaders, the de facto “best and brightest.” While they are destroying the nation’s financial future with one trillion-dollar bailout after another, they have the gall to lecture young people about their obligations to the government.
Not to mention that, coupled with the move to cut the deduction for charitable giving, this is a move to crush private charity. You will volunteer for an approved project, not one that captures your youthful idealism's fancy. (Why do I suspect crisis pregnancy centers, mission trips, pro-life organizing and Catholic Charities won't qualify?)
I'm glad purveyors of the zeitgeist can feel "bored" with such moves. I'm praying harder than I ever have in my life and still having trouble sleeping.
