Obama's Service Program Unveiled With His Collectivism
By Verv

Thu Jul 03, 2008 - The guy is looking at appealing to voters on the most primary levels that he knows how by piecing together this plan. Universal plans like this always have appeal until people stop and think and understand that these opportunities already exist and even on Presidential levels they have already been created before (e.g. the Peace Corps). This from CNN:

Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled a plan to create volunteer and service opportunities to help tackle some of the nation's most pressing issues, part of his weeklong focus on patriotism and national service. "This won't be a call issued in one speech or one program — I want this to be a central cause of my presidency," Obama said in a speech at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

"We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges."

He added, "When you choose to serve — whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood — you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream.

" Obama highlighted his time as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side and his stint heading Project Vote, a group that helped register 150,000 new African-American voters in the Illinois city, according to his campaign.

"I wasn't just helping other people. Through service, I found a community that embraced me; citizenship that was meaningful; the direction I'd been seeking. Through service, I discovered how my own improbable story fit into the larger story of America," he said.
It is interesting that the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are centered around… Volunteerism? Do not get me wrong, a lot of volunteering would make the world a better place but all this talk of finding oneself through community is quite interesting.

I think much of America was defined by a sort of rugged individualism that existed independently from the community (and that is what made it outstanding). America was characterized a place that was free because people did not pay attention to you nor bring out their judgments. They had no power and they let you mind your own business.

The notion that now we are defining ourselves through communalism is a little bit eerie. Perhaps we should define ourselves by… Ourselves?

I also enjoy how he refers to his own story as so improbable, as if intelligent Ivy Leaguers would've never made it far in life. Let alone after they politically set themselves up for success.

Improbablility? Pshaw.

Update (Rizzuto): This has been Obama’s theme for a while now. Just listen to this excerpt from his commencement speech at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Something about our money culture, and collective salvation, and hitching our wagon to something larger than ourselves. How very quaint...lap it up people.







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