On March 18th, under cover of all the AIG and economic turmoil, the House of Representatives passed the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act by a House vote of 321-105. It now goes to the Senate. (By the way, don't you just love the acronym game that is played?) To view the whole Bill (click here). The Act purports to build on the AmeriCorps concept which had its roots in the John Kennedy "Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) corps. These organizations were originally intended to promote volunteerism in the U.S. to help depressed areas such as Appalachia and others. Now, with more money available through both the stimulus Act and GIVE the concept of volunteerism is augmented with pay and other benefits including tuition benefits. GIVE will initially expand the AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000 "volunteers"! And that's surely just the beginning.The areas of "service" are expanded in GIVE to include: Clean Energy, Education, Health and Veterans Service. Areas such as energy conservation and household energy efficiencies are also included. (see the excerpt below that pertains to Energy)
Sounds like a good idea, right? Let's get citizens involved in helping each other out. Well, not so fast...let's take a look at what President Obama had to say last year as candidate Obama..........
Let's put some facts together, now. The stimulus bill provides billions to community organizer groups. The Bill also reduces the charitable donations deduction for upper wage scale taxpayers with the likelihood of reduced donations. The result will provide for government to fill the void through GIVE. "Volunteers" are paid. There is a short step from voluntary service to mandatory service to help implement Obama's vision as articulated in the above video. Does any of this ring a bell to the 1930s in Europe?
Helping each other is an inherent attribute among Americans. We do it without being asked or paid. Putting GIVE in place, managed by politicians, has to generate some skepticism if not outright alarm given the direction we see this administration taking our country.
