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We students are busy people. Class, work, study, it adds up. On the average weeknight, a lucky few relax while the rest of us slave away in the library. Our obligations can get overwhelming, but if one presidential candidate has his way, you'll have even more on your plate.
In nations like Israel and Germany, college graduates are required to work in the military, as teachers, or in similar public service positions before going about their lives. It's called mandatory public service. For now, America is different. We aren't forced to serve. Our military and civil service organizations are voluntary.
Sen. Barack Obama wants to change that. But instead of using graduates, Mr. Obama wants you to work during college as part of the "civilian national security force." One hundred hours each year, to be exact. In theory it's voluntary, but not in practice. In exchange for 100 hours of service, students receive an annual $4,000 tuition tax credit. That's $16,000 over four years. Few would refuse this offer, making it effectively mandatory.
It sounds great, but there's a dark underside to this cheery face. Part of it is dollars and cents. Obama's civilian security force would contain over a dozen new service organizations, including programs requiring elementary and high school students to work. Those programs will need funding Obama has been light on the explanations.
The organizations won't pay for themselves. Nor will the $16, 000 tax credit, which amounts to $40 an hour, more than many professionals earn. It's all expected to cost taxpayers as much as $100 billion each year, increasing dramatically as student numbers increase. As for the scope of these organizations, Obama has given us brief but scary glimpses. He says the civilian national security force should be "just as powerful, just as strong and just as well funded" as the military.
That takes us beyond funding. Lots of us get nervous when the government forces us to serve others. It takes the "volunteer" out of "volunteering." It turns civil service into civil servitude. Frankly, the idea of a government-run civilian security force, starting at age 10, is just plain creepy.
Americans have a long and storied history of volunteering, from civilian women serving as nurses during the Civil War to Greek system service projects. Americans have accomplished much through these charitable acts because a genuine urge to help others spurred them to participate--not because they got a tax credit.
Yes, civil service is wonderful, but it isn't a constitutional duty and we shouldn't punish those who choose not to serve. But Obama's plan does just that. It essentially punishes those who, for whatever reason, cannot or choose not to engage in service. No service, no tax credit. You'd rather spend your time studying? Sorry.
Finally, private charity is, in most cases, more efficient than government charity. Government charity often leads to massive bureaucracy, which leads to wasteful spending. This has been the case with almost every social welfare program since FDR was president. I'd bet that, by the end of an Obama administration, those programs would be hemorrhaging money faster than citizens could be taxed. Worse, the government would force elementary, high school and college students to serve others when they should be concentrating on their education.
After law school, Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago. We appreciate that community service. But no government bureaucrat induced him to serve. As we've heard ad nauseam, he performed that service out of the goodness of his heart. And that's the way it should stay.
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