The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

November 7, 2008 Jack Danger Canty writes:

When he describes hours of community service as “mandatory” it’s tied to college grants. To actually require forced labor would be highly illegal and against the whole spirit of the service.

And this election has shown that a majority of citizens really do believe that the American Dream needs to be reinterpreted for ‘we’ rather than ‘me’. Personal safety and prosperity is fragile if it’s not shared broadly. I, along with tens of millions of other citizens, am willing to serve if called to do so for the greater good.

November 7, 2008 Rob deFreese, Florida writes:

The middle school and high school service is not tied to any sort of grants. Only the college hours are.

Therefore this is a form of involuntary servitude which is outlawed by the 13th amendment.

November 7, 2008 Marie Stacey, Tennessee writes:

I am not willing to serve ‘for the greater good.’ The moment any drone can define for me what the ‘greater good’ actually is, then I may consider supporting it. However, I know that it is impossible for them to define the greater good because it is an intentionally vague term meant to make people feel included.

The Heritage Foundation made the most clear and concise argument against mandatory service that I have seen so far. I pledge that I will never serve Obama under any capacity for any reason, and that is my choice as an American. No mandate will change my mind. I will not sell my liberty for any price.

Although perhaps this will be an eye-opener for the leftists, mandates don’t work for the U.N. and they won’t work for Obama either.

The Conservative Revival is underway! Thank you Heritage Foundation.

November 7, 2008 jawbreaker Kansas writes:

When I volunteer my time, money, hard work to a cause, it’s called charity. When the government takes from me the time, money and hard work, simply put, it’s called theft.

November 7, 2008 tino writes:

Welcome to the new America…you voted for socialism, so now you’ve got it.

November 8, 2008 Jenni McW., California writes:

“Obama says that it is when “you choose to serve” that you are connected to the American Dream.” Choosing to serve is voluntary, the opposite of “mandatory.” I volunteer at my Church, and have volunteered in the past to a local Pregnancy Resource Center. I have a feeling that (although I am not in middle or high school) Obama would disqualify either as public servitude… This is not freedom granted but a beginning of freedoms being taken away. He has not even entered office and already he is setting himself up for impeachment. I pray for our country and our country’s children. Thank you for this article.

November 8, 2008 M.E., Wisconsin writes:

I, too, will refuse the serfdom of required service. Of my own volition, I willing share countless hours of my time, unpaid, to service organizations of my choosing. In addition, I spend my life in service to my family, my aging parents, my parish, my neighbors.

But would I give so much as one-half hour of mandatory service, required by Obama? Never. And I’ll never let my children do so, either.

November 9, 2008 Ted Chicago writes:

“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”
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50 hours of community service is a typical sentence for first time intoxicated drivers. That’s not my idea of achieving the American Dream.

“I, along with tens of millions of other citizens, am willing to serve if called to do so for the greater good.”
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And I thank you for your service, but when it’s compulsory it’s called servitude.

November 10, 2008 Richard, Texas writes:

Ted, you are right-on the mark. 500 hours of community is more than a third-time DWI will get you. Mandatory means just that mandatory.

November 10, 2008 Andrew, Chicago writes:

Obama’s plan does not require college students to participate in community service, as the article suggests. If students do decide to participate, and complete the program, they get $4,000 for college, and the community gets 100 hours of community service.

I do agree that the American Dream is more of a personal concept.

November 13, 2008 Pamela, DC writes:

It’s interesting to me how change.gov’s explanation of the America Serves initiative has changed as the scary implications of the words on the screen have come to light. The site’s many agenda sub-pages, including plans for national defense and the economy, have also vanished.

So far it seems that an open, transparent new administration really means deleting ill-chosen words and pretending they never existed at all.

November 24, 2008 RedPlanetCartoons » Overreach writes:

[...] Heritage Foundation: “A proposal for American Serfdom.” [...]

December 10, 2008 Individuality and Freedom « Conservative Thoughts and Profundity writes:

[...] attack, whether by a collective-rights interpretation of the Second Amendment or by a collectivist redefining of the American Dream, we must resist it. Individual freedom and individual rights are our only chance to retain our [...]

December 23, 2008 Bill, Anchorage Alaska writes:

This article is way off base and out of line. Government is NOT the problem,….lack of participation in governments role and irresponsible spending and an out of control military budget (60% of the worlds expedenture on military is done by the U.S. to control shipping lanes and support the petrodictators of the world). The Heritage Foundation should realize that asking citizens to serve their country is critical to rebuilding this country and rebuilding the middle class.
Stop the war agains labor, help solve the rediculous and barbaric healthcare (we spend more per capita yet have 50million plus not covered) program.

Heritage Foundation……get off your highhorse and help this country deal with climate change, solve our healthcare issue (employer based healthcare is a competitive disadvantage to our companies), help us get rid of corporate welfare, revitalize the country and get rid of the Cut tax and Borrow policies of the republican led leaderships. 80% of our Federal debt was incurred under the Bush and Reagan presidencies. Restructure our tax policies by taxing polluters and gasoline and diesel more and cutting income taxes further on the middle class and build a safer and cleaner energy system away from oil and gas and towards solar, wave, tidal, geothermal, wind, select biofuels (not corn)………..
Why is it ok with you so-called conservatives to privatize profits and socialize losses…..did you not learn from the excesses of the 20’s when we did not regulate margin debt, did not regulate our banks, and simply said “Greed” was good…….FDR adn the democrats had to rebuild this nation with the CCC, create some security with Social Security, and get this nation and the world through world war 2 successfully…………
Be part of the problem and support Barack Obama as he helps you and others become better aware or our true “Heritage”…..which is based on citizen participation in both government and nongovernmental organizations.
Remember, WE are the government and good government is the SOLUTION and not the problem.
The financial services deregulation started in the Reagan years has ultimately led to the decimation of our Manufacturing industry and the irresponible and dumbly regulated buildup of the financial industry which has favored massive buildup of DEBT and threatens the financial future for all of us.
We need to rebuild our economy based on Production and less debendence on consumption. We need to create energy security and we can NOT drill our way out of this problem…..even Boone Pickens knows that.

Your foundation is part of the problem and is anti-labor, anti-healthcare, and favors rich over the poor, and unwisely believes in supplyside trickle down economics fueled by the military industrial complex and massive build up of National Debt to subzidize corporate excess and irresponsibility.

Change Now while you still can.

Sincerely.

December 28, 2008 Cindy, MI writes:

What a lot of people are missing is the ALL. The supporters say “It’s good for the kids to serve. Schools already require it. College kids get something for it.”

But his eye isn’t on the kids (who, if they disobey, can’t graduate from middle or high school), his eye is on ALL. A person away from home 10 hours a day at a job and commuting then has to Serve another hour a day, or ten on the weekends, picking up garbage on the roadside, or doing some other job that someone was previously getting paid to do. Exhausted people can’t fight back, OR “participate in government”.

Health care professionals will have to work in areas they don’t want to “because the need is there.” Adults will have to fear job loss during their three-month stints in the Civilian Security Forces training camps (read up on it, it’s real).

Then there are the elderly (conveniently called “the retired” in his plan). No service? No Medicare/Medicaid. “In return for affordable health care” is how I remember it worded on his page — though that’s likely been Changed also.

No amount of “you’re being stubborn, selfish and unpatriotic” rhetoric can alter the fact that he wants ALL to serve in this Corps and that Corps. That makes it mandatory, and unacceptable.

January 9, 2009 Go pound sand, CA writes:

Obama can kiss my a$$. I work five months out of each year for the govt. for free. It’s called paying TAXES. I will not submit to this thinly veiled attempt at indentured servitude at best; and quite possibly a Nazi brown shirt corps at worst. Does anyone remember recent history?

This whole idea of sacrificing for the collective good is pure bull–it. If you live a right life, work for a living, and take care of your family, you are sacrificing for the collective good of this nation. And if you think this program will not end-up being a social welfare program, taking the labor and resources of the able and hard working American, and giving it to the leaches of society,(including the federal govt.) you are sorely mistaken.

The govt. is a parasite. It takes and takes, growing larger, caring not for the host which it consumes and eventually kills. Good luck in the labor camps.

February 12, 2009 Andrew, North Carolina writes:

The service being asked (or, in some cases, demanded) of us does not, in the least, constitute ’slavery’. We all want to see America prosper. Though I am a democrat, I fully supported the Bush Administration in voulenteerism. Our schools and hospitals need help, and the help they need is not partisan. Democrats and republicans need education, and, quite frankly, our government isn’t providing the global standard. Let’s help, for the sake of a brighter future for our beautiful country.

February 25, 2009 Paul Bonacci writes:

I have to say I’m a huge fan of the Heritage Foundation.

Whenever I’m need of revisionist history or I’m just looking for intellectually dishonest talking points to falsely justify my companies corporate greed, treason and/or fraud, I know which pros I should turn to.

Many thanks,

Big Industry Lobbyist