Compulsory volunteering is again being touted as a fix to some perceived social problem. Forget the oxymoron. What is important is that elected officials who have the power to compel us are seriously proposing forcing Americans - Americans who have not been convicted of any crimes- to do things those elected officials want done. I do not care if the things they want done are the top 3 things I want done. Compulsory labor is slavery. period. full stop. Do Not Go There. ( see Civil War).

That should be enough to stop it but it won't be. Too many people think it would be a good thing . . . as long as they are not the ones being enslaved. Enslave our youth! only temporarily. and for the good of the community. Not like those evil slave owners who enslaved others for their own gain. No. Slavery will be good for them! It will teach them to volunteer. To appreciate others . . . who are not enslaved. To see service to their communities as . . . golly gee . . . a government thing.

The US has no lack of volunteers. It is still the most volunteering country in the world in hours spent per capita. By a long shot. Nor is the targeted age group - teenagers and young adults - less likely to volunteer than any previous group of young Americans. So why the push to enslave our teens? Because getting those punks off your lawn and doing something "for the community" appeals to those who worry about gangs, drugs, violence, teenage sex and treacherously low-slung pants and think that directing said punks to "good works" will overcome the horrid parenting those punks obviously had. And because getting the government to control it will direct all that chaotic volunteerism Americans have been doing for centuries to the Right Sort of Community Building.

What? You thought there would be no bureaucratic determination of what constitutes valid compulsory volunteerism? You thought there would be no new bureaucracy paid to run all these slaves; to force them into the Right Sort of service? Puhleeze. You cannot leave volunteering up to volunteers!

While perusing websites on this issue I ran into this from "Betty" who accidentally visited Reason.com. Once she found out it was a libertarian site she ran away quickly - probably screaming, frightened by all the freedom running rampant there.

Much of the call for national service must be based in an attempt to combat the me-me-menness that has developed in our society. There was a time when people would bring each other casseroles and take care of each other's kids when the neighbor needed it. Much of the neighborhood-based safety net is gone now.

There are at least two reasons kids are specifically targeted: kids live and eat largely for free, and, far more importantly, kids who volunteer turn in to adults who volunteer.

Other advantages include exposing kids to people whose lives are different than their own in the formative time when they decide if they're going to be a stockbroker or rural doctor when they grow up, building compassion for people with different life experiences, and teaching things that can't be as easily learned anywhere else: compassion, flexibility, setting aside judgment, and so much more.

And, frankly, volunteers will tell you that they get more out of their service than they give. It's good for your health, it makes you a better thinker, it gives yo a chance to learn thing you might not have the chance to know about otherwise. It lets you feel good about what you leave behind in this world.

Social engineering? I sure hope so.

Keep in mind that in her later post she stated proudly that she is paid to run volunteers. Do I need to repeat that?


The Me Generation wants to force Generation X to stop being so "me" oriented and serve them.
The very generation that is proud of refusing to serve when it was the targeted age.

Neighbors still bring casseroles and even Jello when needed.
If Betty and her neighbors do not, it speaks ill of them, not of the rest of America.

Kids do not eat free. Their parents pay. Oh. Do you think she meant kids who get free school lunches and whose mothers get foodstamps? Me either.

It is true that kids who volunteer - and kids whose parents volunteer - volunteer as adults. Slavery has nothing to do with this correlation.


Sound like she has some ideas as to where these kids should be slaving. I guess it won't be sufficient to bring a casserole to your neighbors and babysit their kids when they need help. And it sounds like she does not want to make their slavery temporary either. They will choose The Right Sort of career!

Kids used to learn these things at home dealing with siblings. Now that single child families and helicopter parents are de riguer, kids have to be enslaved to learn "compassion, flexibility, setting aside judgment and so much more". Do not even think about asking how being a part of a government bureaucracy could promote " flexibility". Anyone see compassion at their DMV recently?

This part is true:
"And, frankly, volunteers will tell you that they get more out of their service than they give. It's good for your health, it makes you a better thinker, it gives yo a chance to learn thing you might not have the chance to know about otherwise. It lets you feel good about what you leave behind in this world."

But again, it is irrelevant because we are not talking about volunteering. We are talking about forcing.


For a better rant about this go here:
http://southbend7.blogspot.com/2008/07/compulsary-voluteering.html