(from http://change.gov/americaserves)
Compulsory volunteerism?
100 hours of community service in college every year? That'd really sucks. It may not seem like a lot, but it is if they're spent on drudgery...
But I can't help but feel you aren't being creative enough or looking hard enough. I mean I'm sure homeless shelter's need volunteers, as do toy donations for under privileged children, political campaigns need volunteers (see Louie Mantia's contribution to the Obama campaign here: http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=31), and so do Boys & Girls clubs.
Not to mention taking 1-2 weeks off and helping people in other countries.
However, I'm one of the lucky few here. :) I'll manage to get the community service hours by being a sysop for my school, i.e. managing the Ubuntu server that runs a significant part of the school technology infrastructure.
I also don't think its necessarily the best thing to do... perhaps he should give incentives to school districts that implement such a system but make the school districts responsible for it.
I think you're doomed to be repeatedly disappointed over the coming years as we all remember that government incompetence isn't some weird temporary anomaly, it's just the way things are.
I'm not disagreeing with you, just reminding everyone of something very similar.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your own sorry ass."
I've got no interest in getting into a particularly deep and codependent relationship with my country. I'll pay my taxes, they can enforce the laws, and we'll leave it at that.
Obviously compulsory volunteerism won't actually be mandated. This is America.
As I said earlier in the thread somewhere, it already is in some places at least. In my county you need 75 hours of community service (fluffed 'Social Service Learning Hours') to graduate high school. I'm not whining, because you have 7 years to do it, but I'm just saying: "This is America" won't get you that far.
Seriously though, it's not actually _forced_, it's just encouraged via one of those offers-you-can't-refuse.
It really does make me very uneasy though. Why did people wait until after the election to start discussing the more worrying aspects of Obama's policy platform?
And how long before people start discussing Obama's triple goals of giving tax cuts to 95% of the population while balancing the budget and starting up many expensive new federal programs?
http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001339.html
His "tax cuts" to 95% of tax-filers is even more interesting when only about 60% of tax filers actually pay taxes.
Well, it took Nixon to go to China.
But I'll believe in Obama's labor service when I see kids picking up trash, and no sooner.
As much as I don't like volunteer work, I think it's a reasonable trade. If you don't want to do the work, you go to a private school.
However, the government organizes those schools, for better or for worse, and so my point is that it's within the government's rights to set up a system like the one Obama's proposing, so long as the system exists only for public schools.
Sweden requires compulsory military service, and I don't actually know, but I bet they can choose community service instead.
the mandatory part, that is.