A politics of national sacrifice
Serve America lets Congress take another bow
Cato Institute
by Gene Healy
04/07/09
Last week, the House passed the Serve America Act (SAA), which will triple the number of federally funded ‘volunteer’ positions, create a ‘Clean Energy Corps’ to weatherize homes, and make September 11th a ‘National Day of Service.’ Like many federal assaults on the taxpayer, the SAA is a bipartisan offense: It passed by huge margins in both houses. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, the primary sponsor, got a standing ovation after the vote was in, and co-sponsor Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, gushed that ‘the whole Kennedy family has been a service family.’ Hatch’s statement neatly captures the fallacy behind the act — the notion that service to America is principally service to the American state...
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10107
A politics of national sacrifice
The American Prospect
by Kevin Mattson
04/08/09
On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave the riskiest speech of his presidency. In what became known as the ‘malaise speech’ (though the word ‘malaise’ never appeared in it) the president riveted the nation. He delivered the speech amid rumors that he had gone crazy, his reputation plummeting in the face of an energy crisis and a breakdown in the country’s civic fabric. Ten days earlier, truckers and residents had rioted in usually quiet Levittown, Pennsylvania, setting bonfires to protest inflationary costs and limited supplies of fuel, made worse by recent machinations of OPEC. Abroad at the time of the riot, Carter cut short his vacation and returned to the States. His staff scheduled a televised speech, but the president canceled it...
http://tinyurl.com/caz6j8
Freedom is scary!
Liberty For All
by Jessica Pacholski
04/08/09
Robert Heinlein wrote that ‘People fall into two categories: Those who wish to rule and those who have no such desire.’ I have never had any desire to lead, I also have no desire to follow, mostly I’ve always just wanted to do my own thing and allow others the same latitude. I don’t think I know what’s right for the world, mostly because over the last 36 years I have only been able to figure out what’s right for me. I know the laws I live by and they are not externally enforced, but rather my own code that I developed through trial and error. I have no need to force these views on others. However, I know the world is filled with people looking for a savior or looking to be one...
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2349
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Serve+America+Act
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=National+Day+of+Service
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+sacrifice
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bipartisan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gene+Healy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kevin+Mattson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jessica+Pacholski
Cato Institute
by Gene Healy
04/07/09
Last week, the House passed the Serve America Act (SAA), which will triple the number of federally funded ‘volunteer’ positions, create a ‘Clean Energy Corps’ to weatherize homes, and make September 11th a ‘National Day of Service.’ Like many federal assaults on the taxpayer, the SAA is a bipartisan offense: It passed by huge margins in both houses. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, the primary sponsor, got a standing ovation after the vote was in, and co-sponsor Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, gushed that ‘the whole Kennedy family has been a service family.’ Hatch’s statement neatly captures the fallacy behind the act — the notion that service to America is principally service to the American state...
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10107
A politics of national sacrifice
The American Prospect
by Kevin Mattson
04/08/09
On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave the riskiest speech of his presidency. In what became known as the ‘malaise speech’ (though the word ‘malaise’ never appeared in it) the president riveted the nation. He delivered the speech amid rumors that he had gone crazy, his reputation plummeting in the face of an energy crisis and a breakdown in the country’s civic fabric. Ten days earlier, truckers and residents had rioted in usually quiet Levittown, Pennsylvania, setting bonfires to protest inflationary costs and limited supplies of fuel, made worse by recent machinations of OPEC. Abroad at the time of the riot, Carter cut short his vacation and returned to the States. His staff scheduled a televised speech, but the president canceled it...
http://tinyurl.com/caz6j8
Freedom is scary!
Liberty For All
by Jessica Pacholski
04/08/09
Robert Heinlein wrote that ‘People fall into two categories: Those who wish to rule and those who have no such desire.’ I have never had any desire to lead, I also have no desire to follow, mostly I’ve always just wanted to do my own thing and allow others the same latitude. I don’t think I know what’s right for the world, mostly because over the last 36 years I have only been able to figure out what’s right for me. I know the laws I live by and they are not externally enforced, but rather my own code that I developed through trial and error. I have no need to force these views on others. However, I know the world is filled with people looking for a savior or looking to be one...
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2349
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Serve+America+Act
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=National+Day+of+Service
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=national+sacrifice
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=taxpayer
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bipartisan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gene+Healy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kevin+Mattson
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jessica+Pacholski
rudkla - 9. Apr, 08:56
