There Are 50 Responses So Far. »

1. Comment by LiveFreeOrDie on 9 November 2008:

   There is no way in the world I would permit my children to participate in this socialist’s plan to enslave the country or to form an “Obama Youth Brigade” that bears a shocking similarity to the Hitler Youth that I thought we had consigned to the trash bin of history.

2. Comment by mike on 9 November 2008:

   if you google change.gov and any of the agenda topics, you can still get to the cached items before they disappeared to be “changed”

3. Comment by Yo on 9 November 2008:

   Obama’s requirement for community service from Jr. High School through High School will be a difficult thing to accomplish. Children have after school sports, dance, theater and other obligations that enhance their life learning. Although, it is only one hour a week, it should be considered that these obligations should be close to home; maybe cleaning up their own schools (conflict with janitorial unions)or planting and weeding the school’s landscape. Travel to do service will require parental involvement and most likely won’t work out with the people holding down two or more jobs in order to pay the Obama taxes.

4. Comment by Jules Hamil on 9 November 2008:

   Well folks, it’s just the beginning. All the morons and zombies that voted for “The One” will wake up to find Amerika is changing. Isn’t that what they voted for? However, is this the “change” they thought it was going to be? I didn’t vote for him but my family will reap his tearing my Country apart. Stick around friends, it’s gonna be a wild, rough ride.

5. Comment by Janice on 9 November 2008:

   I saw it myself on Friday night. I noticed that his new website said 100 hours community service required for college students (with no mention of college credit). About four hours later, his website was changed to back to how he wrote it originally. I thought the new language was odd and the switch was even stranger.

6. Comment by Johnny G on 9 November 2008:

   What next for the Voying Brownshirts are we going to be subjected to having to listen to the likes of Malcolm X types telling us we have to name our children in traditional African names in honor of “THE ONE” and now with the senate and congress ran by Democrats we are surely going to see more jack booted thugs hitting the street forcing people to follow an agenda that is completely Anti-American and Anti-Freedom ….

   My family will fight for Freedom and Honor our US Constitution not use it for a doormat like Democrats and liberal Brownshirts …

7. Comment by olyrover on 9 November 2008:

   What better way to start the cultural revolution, alias “change”, that will take us “THERE” than with the help of millions of idealistic young “volunteers”? Seems to me it’s been done before.

8. Comment by kenth on 9 November 2008:

   Here comes your change. My only solace is that it’s first going to affect the young fools who voted for Obama.

9. Comment by Jeremy on 9 November 2008:

   I can’t believe all of you are complaining about kids doing community service. How is this a bad thing? It’s one hour a week? Most of my friends in college were required to do community service when we were in High School and we continue to do so now.

   One hour a week won’t cut into their sports, drama, gymnastics, etc. It’s good for people to get out of the house and see how it really is.

   BTW if 400 hours in HS gets you $4000 that’s $10 per hour, much more than most students make at shitty mall or fast food jobs.

10. Comment by olyrover on 9 November 2008:

    Red Guard comes to mind after a bit thought. Mao’s little enforcers.

11. Comment by Janice on 9 November 2008:

    Jeremy, you are not understanding – Obama stated on his site Friday that he would REQUIRE college students to complete service, without stating anything about credit. He has since changed his information back.

    Also, you may want to check out Raham Emmanuel’s book called; The Plan: Big Ideas For America” in which he sees compulsory basic training for everyone age 18-25 which would consist of 3 months learning how to make “America safer and more united in common purpose”.

    Raham Emmanuel is now BO COS. They have similar visions involving involving involuntarily servitide. Doesn’t matter if it is good or not, it is involuntary.

12. Comment by Ziv on 9 November 2008:

    Jeremy, are you that drunk on Obama that you can’t see what this is? Voluntary service means just that. Not a requirement to graduate. This MUST be an individual’s choice in a free society. It is not the government’s job to limit your life based on what THEY decide they need you for.

13. Comment by world of war cranks on 9 November 2008:

    Good idea,

    Specially the more lazy students cant link up education with the wage slavery that awaits them.

    School kids tend to live by the day (I did) but when you find there is no work for you the show is over.

    Now they can chose not to have qualification while being aware of the consequences.

    I passionately hate the military but the Draft did turn man-children into real men.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfFav34KDz4

    Can we say: out of touch with reality? 100 hours of cleaning toilets would do her good.

14. Comment by Johnny G on 9 November 2008:

    SO Jeremy on 9 November 2008:

    Being forced to do something against your will is acceptable if only for an hour a week huh ?

    Thats not Freedom it’s Tyranny Volunteerism is a great thing but it’s not volunteering if you are required to do it !

    And what does “the one ” promise in return “a better country ” is it supposed to make you “feel good” let me lay some history on you my friend….

    “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!”-Samuel Adams …

    This wasn’t an Election it was a Corination “The One” has been exhaulted as some great leader yet has just to prove alone that he is even a Citizen of the United States He has proven nothing more than to be a stalurt puppet of Socialist Globalism and i for one do not want to subject my children to such tyranny …

15. Comment by Centurion2000 on 9 November 2008:

    Actually it looks like he has pulled ALL of his agenda. Is there a backup of it somewhere on the internet? Did the author take any more screenshots?

16. Comment by tj on 9 November 2008:

    Nothing but giving rich universities billions of dollars.
    Those 100 hours of service will not be worth the dollars spent on some program like this.

17. Comment by Warren Clark on 9 November 2008:

    Is he out of his mind? Never in all my 62 years……I’ll refuse to do it. Period.

18. Comment by Political Republican Opinion on 9 November 2008:

    The agenda that Barack Obama had posted on his change.gov site is really no different than the agenda that he had on the barackobama.com site.

    Anticipating this candidate for CHANGE might change what he said he had promised before the election, I copied his entire barackobama.com website.

    I will be posting it in sections on something called “The Obama Report Card” in order to track his progress on keeping his promises.

19. Comment by MG on 9 November 2008:

    A decline, sir; I value liberty and am confident in the individual

20. Comment by Sam Marsh on 9 November 2008:

    I think it’s just peachy that Obama is taking this opportunity to expand slavery to include all races. We can now rejoice in our shared involuntary servitude…. right?

    Oh, it’s not so bad, a minor inconvenience, until we have another non-defensive war that nobody wants to fight. And it’s just for young people, for now.

    Does anyone really believe this will be the end of this line of thinking? Remember that the income tax was promised to be no more than 1%, and only for the rich. All very reasonable-sounding.

    The only difference between the two halves of the Repo-crat party is which countries they want to bomb, and which parts of the Constitution they want to utterly destroy. They all work for the same money interests in the end.

    Here’s a relevant refresher for everyone:

    Amendment 13
    Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

21. Comment by Brian on 9 November 2008:

    100 hours of work for $4,000 paid tuition? I don’t make $40/hour, and I don’t think taxpayers should pay college students that much for “national service” either.

22. Comment by Jeremy on 9 November 2008:

    I’m just saying that community service isn’t such a bad idea. I did it for 8 years because I went to Jesuit schools. In College it was not a requirement but but many of us joined organizations that required you to be to community service to stay a member. It didn’t have to be anything to help the school, it could have been beach clean-ups, building houses, helping out at an after school program or just about anything else you can think of.

    And Janice, this we didn’t do it for credit, we did it to graduate. It’s about education of the whole self.

    My little sister goes to public high school and they are requiring community service before graduation.

    Most college students could spend 1 less hour drinking a week and they would fulfill the requirement.

    It all really depends on how the plan is implemented what type of things will count for community service.

23. Comment by Michael Green on 9 November 2008:

    Whether it’s good for the country or not is irrelevant. I’d say it’s not, and others are convinced it would be beneficial. The question should be: is it the right thing to do?

    Is it ethical? Is it Constitutional? We can’t simply focus on the utilitarian aspect. After all, wouldn’t it be good for the country if all dissent was silenced and no one was allowed to say anything offensive?

24. Comment by Kevin on 9 November 2008:

    To the people saying “well its kids just doing some good community service”.

    But think, 100 hours per year is 2 weeks of full work (at normal working hours), and if you add up the amount of kids doing it all across the nation, it will be making them into free slave laborers.

    And they will bump out people who would have normally been paid to do the same job, people that desperately needed that money to pay for their family to eat and survive.

    I am strongly opposed to this idea. How about they hire people that need jobs to do these jobs instead of using our kids for free. Bunch of crooks!

25. Comment by Sara on 9 November 2008:

    My kids were required to “volunteer” by thier left wing public high school. The activity of “service” was not ordered by the school so I had them just do what they always did on their own – help the church in service projects that were ongoing. I despised that the government took away the spiritual meaning of real volunteering done out of mercy and care for others by mandating it for graduation. The minister was not too crazy reporting their offerings of service to the government, either!

26. Comment by Melody on 9 November 2008:

    I read “all” of his agenda Friday night on change.gov. It was there about the 50 hours for middle school and high school, and 100 hours for college (per year). Now, there is nothing there. There are no subtopics under agenda. Just like Sara above, our stupid public school system started requiring community service (involuntary servitude) in order to graduate. My kids are involved in church activities all the time, helping people is not a problem. Forcing this upon kids is the problem. I will quit work and homeschool my youngest if this is implemented…for however long that is legal.

27. Comment by Doug W on 9 November 2008:

    I am extremely leery of this, I wonder what the catch is, and I get a feeling in my gut that the entire thing is insidious, ominous, and only the tip of the proverbial iceberg…

28. Comment by Dan on 9 November 2008:

    http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=3905

29. Comment by lucas on 9 November 2008:

    um… It’s still there.

    http://change.gov/americaserves/

    please check your facts before you report mis-information.

30. Comment by cmsg on 9 November 2008:

    It’s shocking to see the level of ignorance and paranoia that predominates the comments here. Has America become so entrenched in fear that we now equate community service with the Third Reich? Or Socialism? Do any of you who are fearful of a Socialist takeover even know what true Socialism is? You should do some much needed research before you expel your fears on others. Grow up people.

31. Comment by Dan on 9 November 2008:

    @ lucas:

    actually, they just changed the wording- replacing the word “require” with other, vague terms.

32. Comment by Jack Boug on 9 November 2008:

    I thought this was a good idea when the original proposal was on the site. Lots of countries have a mandatory civil service period, and not just the communist empires. Off the top of my head, South Korea has two years mandatory civil service after high school, and of course Israel has mandatory military service. I know there are many others with similar policies.

    I think you need to focus on who this is aimed at: students. Community service as part of a child’s education is a good idea. Maybe it’s “small town” of me but I believe work builds character. And while it’s not true of all American children, there are certainly many who are a little too comfortable or privledged that would benefit from some real-world experience.

    Community service as part of our education curriculum could help our youth feel a sense of connection with their community and instill a sense of respect that seems to be lacking in today’s children (though that’s probably time shifting my perception).

    If you think your kid is too good to put in four hours every other Saturday doing postitive things then you are certainly entitled to your opinion. But seriously, it’s not like Obama’s trying to put this on working Americans. This is not Hitler’s Youth II. It’s Obama trying to live up to his words.

33. Comment by Sulu on 10 November 2008:

    Free slave laborers? Are you serious? $4,000 paid tuition isn’t really free. I think real slaves maybe got something to eat, a beating, and maybe a place to sleep. It doesn’t even compare.

    How does community service = Hitlers Youth, free slave laborers?

    And Johnny G, holy crap you are being way, way overly dramatic. You hit it way out of the park in the dramatic category. Out of orbit man, you are out there.

    Wow you guys, funny stuff.

34. Comment by Carlos on 10 November 2008:

    I find it ironic most of the people for this are 99.9% likely to be pro-choice when it comes to abortion or gay marriage. How about pro-choice with MY TIME. If I want to volunteer, I’ll do that. $4k should be an incentive, not a mandatory exchange for forced labor. Sometimes I wonder why people are so hypocritical.

35. Comment by Cory on 10 November 2008:

    I cannot believe how terrible this country has become, and yet people still cling to scare tactics about our president elect.

    Face it, we have become fat, our manufacturing abilty is gone, our healthcare industry is bankrupting us, our financial system has failed, we started a war for no good reason, and so on…

    We get a guy in office that is intelligent and wants us to change a few things to make our country great again. The only thing I have heard from right wingers is fear… higher taxes, hitlers youth, socialism…

    To be honest, the guy you voted for twice is running the country into the ground. Its time for you to live by the golden rule keep quiet for a while and give a true American a chance to govern. I think bush said it best “you are either with us, or you against us”. Whose side are you on, America’s or your own?

36. Comment by michele on 10 November 2008:

    Last week when I first stumpled upon the change website, I was very curious and with an open mind I began reading the Agenda section. I only got thru the first 3 or four sections of the Agenda plan, but here are a few key parts that stood out to me.

    This can be found under the agenda tab, just click on Defense. The first on is the 4th paragraph. The second one is near the bottom under “Develop Whole of Government Initiatives to Promote Global Stability”

    “Recruitment and Retention Problems: A country of 300 million strong should not struggle to find enough qualified citizens to serve. Recruiting and retention problems have been swept under the rug by an administration that does not understand the value of service to our nation.”
    Does he plan on reintroducing the draft?

    ”Create a Civilian Assistance Corps (CAC): An Obama-Biden administration will set a goal of creating a national CAC of 25,000 personnel. This corps of civilian volunteers with special skill, sets (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) would be organized to provide each federal agency with a pool of volunteer experts willing to deploy in times of need at home and abroad.”

    So is he going to take skilled workers and tell them that if they want to continue working they will have to “volunteer” for him or else?

    This can be found under the agenda tab, just click on Diabilities.
    “Third, increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities.”

    Does this mean putting them in jobs americans just wont do? HAHA I hope he doesn’t plan on putting people in jobs they aren’t qualified for just because he feels they should be employed somewhere. I mean my grandmother is deaf, but I doubt very much that is she were to go back to whork she would be a telephone operator.

    This can be found under the agenda tab, just click on Economy. This is just a about two sections down under “Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief”

    “Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama and Biden will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama and Biden will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama-Biden proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.”

    So the government makes a complicated tax system that they can barly understand, and they want to do your taxes for us? I doubt very much the governement is going to take more than is necessary and is going to find every tax-excempt filing for each american.

    “Zero to Five Plan: The Obama-Biden comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state “zero to five” efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.”

    I think this explains what was originally on his America Serves tabe (see screen shot above.) This is his plan for government to “help raise” children from 0 to 5 years old. Nothing like indoctrination for the young.

    These were the only things I was able to save from the website. I was hoping to continue this week and read thru the rest.

37. Comment by Aaron on 10 November 2008:

    What do you think the Obama administration hopes to accomplish by taking it down? To quell any scrutiny of his agenda? Shouldn’t his agenda by 100% transparent to everyone who so excitedly voted for him, or is this just politics as usual?

    The argument “Well why shouldn’t teenagers do community service? It’ll be good for them!” is flawed, IMO, for a couple reasons:

    Give a 16 year-old something he HAS to do in order to graduate and he or she will be annoyed by it and treat it like a job. They’ll do it half-assed or skirt the rules somehow and NOT do it, and ultimately bear resentment toward the person or power who made him do it in the first place. In this case, it’s the government who, by exerting power through schools, is not encouraging the student to be inspired to work for his or her community.

    Community service is something done VOLUNTARILY out of love and passion for the community, not love and passion for the government. It makes the person and the community better if it is done by choice, not by force or coercion.

38. Comment by Mike Aaron on 10 November 2008:

    Are we headed for a Socialist nation? I believe it will happen. California is already a Socialist state thanks to our great representatives and the ignorant voters who live there.

39. Comment by Where have you been? on 10 November 2008:

    Where have you people been? My highschool REQUIRED, let me say that again, REQUIRED that we all participate in 20 hours of community service and set up events so that we could get the hours in while school was in session.

    This was REQUIRED to graduate. If you did not do it, which many students skipped, you had to complete it over the summer to get your diploma.

    So if a local school does it it is good for the kids but if a President does it it is socialism?

    Since when does community service equal slavery? I’m not sure how people can make a jump from planting trees and serving food in a soup kitchen to the Hitler Youth. It’s just as easy and makes the same amount of sense to make the jump from some of your statements to fascism.

40. Comment by Where have you been? on 10 November 2008:

    “Give a 16 year-old something he HAS to do in order to graduate and he or she will be annoyed by it and treat it like a job. They’ll do it half-assed or skirt the rules somehow and NOT do it, and ultimately bear resentment toward the person or power who made him do it in the first place.”

    You’re completely right. Let’s eliminate math and science as well because Christ if a kid doesn’t want to do it it can’t possibly benefit them in the least. We all know how much kids hate math and science.

    Jesus you people are out of touch with reality.

41. Comment by Alexander Nobles on 10 November 2008:

    Where have you been?—-

    I know many schools require this as a need for graduation. This is something your community decided would be a good thing for you to do… That is your community.

    Local government, generally, knows what is best for it’s students. Your community, I am sure has had open discussion about this matter… in which you were, I am sure, able to participate in.

    Obama is talking about a national plan… whether or not he rewards some students with $40/hour is besides the point… This is the same think as the Department of Education saying your school must teach every student Algebra II, even though that class may have no need to be taught in your area…

    Keep the Federal mandates to a minimum please…

    You have a voice on the local level… I hope you use it. We have no true voice on the national level.

42. Comment by Anon. on 11 November 2008:

    Obama is not changing anything. It is the elite globalists from whom he recieves his orders (i.e. The New World Order).

43. Comment by susana on 15 November 2008:

    Oh yeah, that is one of the first things Castro did in Cuba years ago, he drafted children and the youth to do community service. What else would you expect from a Marxist?

44. Comment by Steve on 1 December 2008:

    I’m wondering if all the people that are defending this would defend it if Bush/ Cheney tried to impose this?

45. Comment by Cris on 18 December 2008:

    Well, to those of you that think are so wise and agree with Obama’s policy on “volunteer work”, let me just tell you that Communists countries are doing pretty much the same thing. I was required to do “volunteer work” in the Communist country I was born it–tuition was free. We were picked up in front of the HS and took to the farms.
    Hmmmmmmmm Sounds like the same think to me!

46. Comment by Tim O in Hawaii on 8 February 2009:

    I am amazed at how many scared, lazy and selfish people there are are out there. there’s nothing wrong and everything right about getting young people involved in doing something good for the community. This smokescreen of calling it “socialism” seems like a new way for conservatives to get out of doing anything for anyone else. sad..

47. Comment by Tara on 21 April 2009:

    Sure, if Obama wants to require American citizens to volunteer to better America, then I say he should start with all the gang-bangers; high school drop outs; the unemployed who either can’t find a job (use it as a good networking opportunity) or the unemployed who are mooching off the system; also people living on food stamps and welfare, etc… Get those people up and off their butts and have them doing something worth while, instead of taking from society and having this attitude of entitlement. Where’s the ‘giving back’ from them?

    The rest of us who have jobs, or 2 jobs to make ends meet, can’t afford to work for free.

    Obama needs to start with the savages of society. I’d like to see all the gang bangers off the streets and doing good, giving back, helping out, serving food a food pantry, spending time with cancer patients, or helping in the ER at a local hospital. I’m sure they all voted for Obama because he’s the first black man in the white house, but let’s see if they’re first to sign up and volunteer….they should put their (drug) money where their mouth is.

48. Comment by AmSoldier on 28 April 2009:

    Wow, Tara. Racist much?

    Reading between the lines, savages=gang bangers=blacks.

    This presupposes that you believe that it was the gang bangers who got O elected. Just how many gang bangers do you think there are in America and how many of them do you imagine voted at all, being the savages they are.

    I’m serving in Iraq right now (23 years of service and counting). I serve freely and am against any “requirement” to serve based solely on the merits of what that argument infers. However, it doesn’t matter what color, ethnic group, or social status is “required” to serve because an injustice to any AMERICAN is an injustice to every AMERICAN.

    Reign in the terror talk. O is just a man and a politician. He’ll come and go and the country will still survive like it always have. The question we should be asking isn’t “who is right?”. We should always ask “WHAT is right?”. Support him when you think he’s right and practice clear and nonviolent dissent when you think he’s wrong.

    If you find that you can’t agree with any single word or policy that he presents then that means you are probably against the man, not his ideals.

    Sometimes I wonder if civilians will ever learn what Soldiers figure out after the first month in the military. Service requires sacrifice. Not because you’ll always want to but because you understand that it’s to support something greater than yourself: freedom (for liberals, conservatives, Dems, Pubs, Muslims, Jews, Christians, etc. = ALL AMERICANS)and your fellow man (Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown, or other = ALL AMERICANS).

    “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” – Douglas Adams

49. Comment by Carol on 29 April 2009:

    I want to start by telling you all that I am an Army Brat and VERY proud of it. With this in mind, I grew up all over the world. And I can not believe that I am reading, from people who call themselves Americans, words like “slavery”, “socialist program”. Get with it people. Considering the state our country is in right now, how can you not agree that we need “CHANGE”. How can asking our children to contribute to our society be a bad thing. When I was younger, we worked and we had responsibilities. We had respect for our elders and each other. We did not have the gang and violence problems that our world is facing today. How can you even begin to compare your child’s dance class to your child contributing to the world they live in. Freedom is not free…so neither should be living in this free country of ours.

    Get a grip on reality and stop being so “politically appalled” when you or your children are asked to step up and do your part.

    Furthermore, I am the child of a German mother and an American soldier. My parents have been married for almost 50 years and I have spent a good part of my life in Germany. How dare you compare our President to the likes of Hitler??? If you get your head out of your butt, you would see the changes he is calling for are nothing like what Hitler wanted. Hitler wanted to rule the world under fear and oppression. Barrack Obama wants to put America back in the status of a solid world leader deserving of respect and admiration. But he alone did not create this mess our country finds itself in right now nor can he fix it alone. Furthermore, thanks to our democratic government, he can’t “change” all of it without support. Step up to the plate,accept responsibility and do your part for our country, or go elsewhere.

50. Comment by Carol on 29 April 2009:

    One more thing, I want to thank our soldiers who are protecting this country whether it be here or abroad. They are fighting for the freedom we have enjoyed for so many years. We need to support them and let them know that we appreciate them. As the soldier before me said, even if you don’t like the politics, respect the man and what he is trying to do, not only for this country, but the world. Be a true American. IF you have a better what to fix things than our President, then write him a letter. Speak up or shut up. Help him do what needs to be done.

    God Bless our soldiers and our President!!

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