Opinion
Examiner Editorial: Expanded Americorps has stench of authoritarianism
Examiner Editorial 3/26/09
With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community-service jobs increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that upon closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism.
The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.
Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns.
To begin with, the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service, including elementary school students.
The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And, it calls for the creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”
But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.”
This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government-approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination.
Now, ask yourself if Congress members who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If they did, the implications are truly frightening.
62 Comments
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Reader Comments:
POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "Oh you poor, scared conservatives. The world has moved on and you're still scrabbling and screaming about conspiracies from the excrement-laden mud. Enjoy your wallowing."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "Previous poster - you well demonstrate your ignorance. Hope you enjoy your time doing mandatory service. Unfortunately, the type of re-educating you will receive is not what you need. Go wallow yourself, loser!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
TJY: ""Conservative"?? The SF Examiner is considered a liberal rag"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
JamesJ: "All Hail Obama! All Hail the State!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
JamesJ: "All Hail Obama! All Hail the State!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Brad: "Oh you poor, foolish liberals. You are following the annointed one and helping him to destroy the United States. I hope you enjoy the new world that you are in the process of creating. We conservatives tried to warn you of your folly but, of course, you wouldn't listen."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Learned from history: "I don't know if I necessarily agree with the idea that this will be the next Young Communist league. But I can agree that spending an additional $3 billion on a program with no measurable goals is not a good idea when we are looking at over $1 trillion per year in deficits."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Learned from history: "I don't know if I necessarily agree with the idea that this will be the next Young Communist league. But I can agree that spending an additional $3 billion on a program with no measurable goals is not a good idea when we are looking at over $1 trillion per year in deficits."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
tskier: "Can you say Nazi Youth Squad?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
JDW: "Dear mothers and fathers, Wait until the bus pulls up to your house to take your children to a camp that most likely will not allow you to visit let alone provide a curriculum. Already, the many public schools allow the gay community to come in to spew their indoctrination, and the courts have ruled that they are allowed to keep their curriculum from you. Some courts have even ruled that the school does not need to inform you, or even allow your children to opt out. I can’t wait to see the uniforms; will they be brown, or white with a red sash, or will OBAMBI get creative? You had better wake up America. CHANGE WE CAN REALLY BELIEVE IN!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
no freedom without risk: "Of course this will be built upon the ACORN template. The "leaders" will all be leftists. There will be required "training" where the young will be indoctrinated into liberalism and intimidated into leftist philosophy. This is simply a plan to indoctrinate the ones missed by the public school system and academia."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Good Ole Paul: "Chains we can believe in."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Good Ole Paul: "Chains we can believe in."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Judith Rubin: "Joanna, This article is from a traditionally liberal paper from San Francisco. It is frightening! I just read an even scarier one from the UK talking about Obama, community organizing, his thug Rham Emanuel and the formation of an army to compete in size with the US Military and funded in the same way. All Youth are to go to "camps" to "learn". This is the way the Nazi's got started. Our youth are also to be wearing uniforms. Bad things are happening under the radar and we all fiddle while Rome burns. Just had a call from a Black banker friend and he's just as alarmed."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Timothy L. Pennell: "Obama is a MARXIST. He's a SOCIALIST. He's just doing what ALL Marxists, and Socialists do. They have STREET GANGS, to do their 'Dirty Work'. We used to call them 'BROWN SHIRTS'. Now they're just called 'Volunteers'. Like the 'Volunteers' that were bussed up to Connecticut, from one of the Hell Holes in NYC, to TERRORIZE the AIG folks, and their FAMILIES. Like KRISTALNACHT. The Service Employees Union put that one together. This is why they want to ELLIMINATE the secret ballot for Unionization. More Unions, more BROWN SHIRTS. Like Venezuala. Look at the bright side. When your own kids turn you in, for 'Unpatriotic Remarks' toward our 'Dear Leader', they'll look sharp, in their Brown Shorts, and RED Bandanas. See? There is a bright side,"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Timothy L. Pennell: "Obama is a MARXIST. He's a SOCIALIST. He's just doing what ALL Marxists, and Socialists do. They have STREET GANGS, to do their 'Dirty Work'. We used to call them 'BROWN SHIRTS'. Now they're just called 'Volunteers'. Like the 'Volunteers' that were bussed up to Connecticut, from one of the Hell Holes in NYC, to TERRORIZE the AIG folks, and their FAMILIES. Like KRISTALNACHT. The Service Employees Union put that one together. This is why they want to ELLIMINATE the secret ballot for Unionization. More Unions, more BROWN SHIRTS. Like Venezuala. Look at the bright side. When your own kids turn you in, for 'Unpatriotic Remarks' toward our 'Dear Leader', they'll look sharp, in their Brown Shorts, and RED Bandanas. See? There is a bright side,"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Kat: "Heil Obama! It will be just like the draft. All you middle-class liberals will find a way to exempt your own kids, while letting everyone else do the dirty work. Have you no idea of how these kinds of programs have played out in other countries? Read some history."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
PGR88: "When I come to power, I will use Americorp to enforce social morality, especially in places like SF. That's what youth are good at. I am glad the pieces are all being put together for me now."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
La Lydia: "I, for one, welcome our new Marxist overlords."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
dmzrn: "O-bots are too stupid for words."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Smith: ""The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer. Read it. We are there."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Colorado: "So is Obama going to send his troops to your house to hold you at gunpoint to force you to join his Americorps? You know this is the same administration who wants to tax your contributions to charity. You would think that the Messiah would want people to give. He just wants to take, thats his objective. Can't stand the guy."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Rocky: "The person who posted this.... "Oh you poor, scared conservatives. The world has moved on and you're still scrabbling and screaming about conspiracies from the excrement-laden mud. Enjoy your wallowing." IS AN IDIOT!!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Rocky: "The person who posted this.... "Oh you poor, scared conservatives. The world has moved on and you're still scrabbling and screaming about conspiracies from the excrement-laden mud. Enjoy your wallowing." IS AN IDIOT!!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Mame: "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. This is exactly what happened in Germany under Hitler."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Dwall: "Go by a copy of Marc Levin's brillant book: "Liberty and Tryanny: A Conservative Manifesto". This will explain the open assault on our Liberty from these Statists in our midsts so that we can defend ourselves from their tryanny of taxation and liberal hypocrisy."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
RobertP: "Just one question; will the ObamaJugend wear brown or black shirts?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "Will members wear brown shirts? At least Hitler had been a corporal, before organizing a paramilitary."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "Will members wear brown shirts? At least Hitler had been a corporal, before organizing a paramilitary."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
oatka: "I've heard this before (dad was from Germany): "“When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side,’ I say calmly, ‘Your child belongs to us already...What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community’.” - Adolf Hitler""
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
tri: "I spent my childhood in a Communist country, and boys and girls, this is how it starts: you're there doing "community work" and your kids are somewhere else being indoctrinated...you end up being irrlelvant in your kid's life because you no longer have the same values or speak the same language...and that 's just the effect it has on your family!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Terence Clark: "Its seems we are building a new group of brown shirts or hitler youth groups. Instead they are Obama youth. Whats next reeducation camps for the people who object to this."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Niall: "The Examiner is owned by conservative Christian Philip Anshutz. For this reason alone is it scorned by the liberal loonies in SF."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
CitizensArrestCitizensArrest: "Yes, the world is coming to an end and it is those danged liberals. For sure."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Jon Groseth: "I have known people who, as young people growing up in Germany in the 30s and 40s, were members of the Hitler Youth Corps. This looks like the same kind of thing. Is this Speaker Pelosi's idea?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
SFLiberal13: "I am a very liberal democrat. Frankly this goes against any liberals beliefs. This is just plain scary. I gotta say I supported Obama but now I am having some major reservations. Where is the transparency. Gitmo is still open and we are staying in Iraq indefinitely???? Also why did he appoint the entire Clinton WH Staff? Not the Hope or Change I voted for!"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
AmericorpsAlum: "Ladies and Gentlemen, put down the koolaid. Americorps is the furthest thing from an authoritarian takeover that I can imagine. Listen; I spent the last ten months as an Americorps member. I traveled the country with a team of college aged folks, and we did volunteer work. None of our tasks were outlined by the federal government. We were loaned out to non-profits, and ALL of our work came from them. The federal oversight of our work was minimal; our superiors only wanted the barest essential numbers to prove that the program was "getting things done." 5,000 invasive blackberry plants pulled. 60 tons of mulch moved. 6 schools painted. 175 community members engaged in service. americorps is a blank check from the federal government to non-profit organizations in the form of free labor. It is the opposite of an authoritarian work corps, because the government does not create the projects. Calm down. Ask questions."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Kim S: "Sounds just like Hitler! Is that what our Great United States is turning into? What happened to our rights/freedoms? All those that voted blindly should be fired!!!! Impeach them all!!!! IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Kim S: "Sounds just like Hitler! Is that what our Great United States is turning into? What happened to our rights/freedoms? All those that voted blindly should be fired!!!! Impeach them all!!!! IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Woody: "BOTH the Republican-conservatives and the Democrat-liberals have managed to "change" our country, especially since November 1963. Arguing about which of these 2 apparently colluding sides is better plays into their game."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
phineas: "If the multinationals hadn't "globalized" all those US jobs into oblivion, endeavours like this wouldn't get off the ground.... If this goes awry, we can all thank the outsourcers....Ain't globalization great?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
HogansHero: "Being "forced" to volunteer is ludicrous. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...shall exist within the United States." (see 13th Amendment) I, for one, and my family will not participate in this lunacy. Do NOT get on the bus if you do not want to. This is unconstitutional. Tell them to go to hell and be prepared to take your case to the Supreme Court if need be."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
HogansHero: "Just Say No to Fascism. Be a peaceful resistor to unjust laws. Let the thugs take the first punch to make you conform. (Take a lesson from the Civil Rights Movement.) This will expose their tyranny for what it is and we'll unite as a free people in defense of liberty."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
weirdone: "SFLiberal13: Glad to see your waking up to the truth, would have been better if you had looked at this Marxist before the election though; he is doing exactly what he said he would do. Welcome to the “Brave New World.” "War Is Peace." "Freedom is Slavery." "Ignorance is Strength." Orwell During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." Orwell"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
weirdone: "SFLiberal13: Glad to see your waking up to the truth, would have been better if you had looked at this Marxist before the election though; he is doing exactly what he said he would do. Welcome to the “Brave New World.” "War Is Peace." "Freedom is Slavery." "Ignorance is Strength." Orwell During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." Orwell"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Very Conerned: "YAY. We all have front row seats for the show, brought to you by the elite marxist zionist banking oligarchs to a sports stadium near you. Baaaaah. Thank God i'm in Ireland and not in America. Anyway, as Rahm put it, at least a million of you are already terrorists so the government has to protect the elites interests from you, the Goyim. In God they trust, but which god."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
George: "Come on up to Canada if you don't want to join the Mussolini - I mean Obama - blackshirts. We're about 10-15 years behind you so you can buy some breathing space while you figure out how to take back your country."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Juven: "I would not serve in Obama's army and my children will not either--they are already aware of the incredible treason this Obama guy is bringing to this country. He lies about everything-- Eric Holder says no more raids by the DEA and what happens less than a week later? Another raid. No end to Gitmo, renaming and mindless rhetoric seems to be the Obama method; not much different than our last monster-- Bush. New boss, same as the old."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Richard: "Goerge what a wonderful invitation, I for one may take you up on that."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Cookie: ""Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I never thought I'd be writing those words about Americans who never learned or don't remember the atrocities committed by the Nazi's and their brown-shirted youth corps. The similarities are too frightening to consider."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
xbjllb: "Two words: Hitler Youth. And I'm a lifelong Democrat before you go hurling the repug comments."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Bill H: "Great. Obama is making para-military groups to either enslave the USA or to fight with the various militia groupd that will rise to fight our march to socialism. I wonder which side the regular military and national guard take when the civil war starts?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "OUR FORE FATHERS DIED FOR OUR FREEDOM AND LIBERTIES. IT SEEMS THEY DIED IN VEIN. ARE WE GOING TO FIGHT?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "our fore fathers died for our freedom and liberties. it seems they died in vein. when are we going to fight?"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Mom: "Tchr,Wm Ayers, did a good job w/ indoctrination of his friend, Obama."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Tina: "This sort of "service" is also required in Isreal."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
: "If it gets the thug minded youth off the street selling drugs and doing drivebuy shooting then how bad can it really be. Hell I woud drive some of them over to the camps myself."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
bebe: "Will the elites insist on a straight-armed "Heil" gesture to complement the thuggish mindset? They'll think of something new, perhaps, although they themselves have oftentimes been photographed/filmed displaying that very gesture. We will soon be overrun by brownshirts...ah! It is true then; Hitler lost the battle , but the NAZI's won the war. Rahm, (dual Israeli-US citizenship) has been salivating for this since day one and now Congress has whorishly acquiesced. The NAZI's adhere to their tried-and-true patterns, eh? How infuriating to know the brain-washed and/or desperate masses will be, once again, fooled into goose-stepping their way into another dictatorship. Yours for 911Trurth"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
bebe: "Hey AmericorpsAlum, you are the one who should be asking questions! 911Truth"
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
HogansHero: "The House and Senate are lapdogs, along with the MSM. This bill received no publicity. Don't also let HR 825 slip by without a fight. Google it, YouTube it, get informed, talk it up, get outraged, inform your local farmers, and fight it or we are all screwed."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
HogansHero: "The House and Senate are lapdogs, along with the MSM. This bill received no publicity. Don't also let HR 825 slip by without a fight. Google it, YouTube it, get informed, talk it up, get outraged, inform your local farmers, and fight it or we are all screwed."
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POSTED Mar 26, 2009
Brian Is Getting Impatient: "These terms "liberal" and "conservative" cast nothing but confusion. Why use language that has simply been deployed against you!? You have been divided and you have been conquered. The fish is already in the boat, and most of you are still arguing about what kind of fish it is and what kind of bait was used. Very useful. They intend to dominate liberals and conservatives alike, don't you all know that?"
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