Oxymoron of the week: Mandatory voluntarism. A lot of candidates are offering volunteer-service ideas to get people more engaged in their country. This columnist likes the plan Chris Dodd came up with most of all:
But the Dodd plan includes a particular position that's worth pursuing by the next president because it drills down beyond the college-age graduate to the budding adulthood of all high school graduates.
Every student in America would be required to perform 100 hours of community-based service prior to high school graduation.
Only down to the high school level? Why not make the elementary kids put in a little time in the soup kitchens? Hell, let 'em hand out condoms and clean needles.
Comments
Great idea, Leo...the kids can restock those "reefer vending machines" In Frisco too...!
Mandatory Volunteerism...LMAO...right up there with Military Intelligence and Female Logic!
(don't tell the wife about the LAST one, 'K?)
;)
B.G.
In the same Rhonda Graham column,
"But Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, whose ideas on public service should get a better reception from voters than his recent bid for the Democratic presidential, gets its [sic]."
Yeah, I "gets its" too: only we the "stupids" who do not publicly and sufficiently deprecate our country would question conscription of the young into government service. We obviously haven't viewed "Will to Power" often enough nor are we sufficiently versed in the heroic exploits of the sugar cane workers toiling in the hot fields for Fidel. Othwise we'd gladly "volunteer" our kids for public works projects (these days probably outsourced to and operated by a private contractor) just like we unquestioningly "volunteer" the information on our state and federal income tax returns each year.
Rhonda Graham's talents would be better suited to press releases from leftist dictators rather than such articulate issue from an obviously unappreciated and underrated mind.
Seems like Dodd's idea isn't really that bad, actually. 100 hours may be a bit much, but some time wouldn't be that bad of an idea.
And I get that the punchline "hand out condoms and clean needles" is a great zinger, but were's your real argument against it? Personally, I found that when I was in high school, volunteering gave me some perspective that I definitely needed.
Casey sez: "Personally, I found that when I was in high school, volunteering gave me some perspective that I definitely needed."
Key word "volunteered".
It felt rewarding because you actually "volunteered", you weren't mandated.
Just the phrase "mandatory volunteerism" ought to
evoke a pretty good laugh....