Posted by
Chris on Friday, March 27, 2009 10:08:26 AM
H.R. 1388 (The GIVE Act)
This Bill will be on the house floor next week and it is getting little notice by the press and public. To much potential here for this program to be abused. Liberty is slowly being confiscated by big governement under the guise of "fairness, equality, and taxation." (Just to name a few!) The founding fathers believed, rightly, that liberty lies in the ability for citizens to make their own choices and provide for themselves. Not in the need for the government to provide for the masses. To take from one group of people to give to another is not true liberty. These government programs and bailouts are squeezing our liberty from our country, sadly most citizens do not realize this. I encourage you to contact your Representatives Monday, March 30th about this. Then contact your Senators and discuss this proposed bill.
This bill is close to violating the 13th amendment of our constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was adopted on December 6, 1865, and was then declared in a proclamation of Secretary of State William H. Seward on December 18.
Many citizens believe that if it violates the constitution then they can not do it. Unfortunately that is not the case. We the people must hold our elected representatives responsible for their continue flaunting or our rights as citizens of this great Nation.
Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel
By 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 job 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 on 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 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 congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening.
Both NC and FL Senators voted for it, the SC Senators voted against it.