Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Case Against Community Service
Flopping Aces ^ | 06-15-09 | Wisdom

Posted on 06/15/2009 11:37:30 AM PDT by Starman417

We’ve all seen it. In our schools, our children’s schools, public meetings, television shows, leadership seminars, political speeches, and even in legislation supported by the President, the message is clear: we should all be doing community service. The fact is that the call to service is greater now than at any time in our country’s past, and the pressure to provide it even greater.

logo_vista_blackThe pressure to conform to the growing demand to volunteer your self, in body and bankbook, can be daunting. When confronted with a group of peers, all telling you how much you are needed, it can be difficult to resist. When your child’s teacher tells you how important it is that you volunteer for the school bake sale, how can you say no? When your Mayor asks you to volunteer your time for the citywide cleanup, how can you refuse? And when the girl scout who lives next door asks you to buy cookies, or the soccer player who lives down the street asks you to buy raffle tickets, how can you not open your wallet and hand them the money?

Simple. Say “no.” Unless, that is, you want to do it, and can.

First of all, it’s not so much “community service” that I have a problem with. Serving your community has plenty of merit, and everyone should do it, provided of course that you are willing, and just as important, able. The problem arises when you are expected to give your time and your money to a cause that you don’t want to support. And more problems arise when you are expected to give your time and your money to a cause when you can’t afford it.

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: agenda; bho44; communism; community; communityservice; fascsim; obama; service; socialism

1 posted on 06/15/2009 11:37:31 AM PDT by Starman417
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Starman417

I got in trouble when I was a kid and was forced to help feed poor people at the homeless shelter. It sucked.


2 posted on 06/15/2009 11:38:30 AM PDT by exist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417
We should always frame community service as giving to the community, not giving "back." The term "giving back" implies we took something from the community, which most of us have not.
3 posted on 06/15/2009 11:42:57 AM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417
And when the girl scout who lives next door asks you to buy cookies, ... how can you not open your wallet and hand them the money?

It's impossible to resist because of the crack cocaine and crystal meth baked into every cookie. I get the shakes a couple of months before it's time to order the cookies.

4 posted on 06/15/2009 11:44:30 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Chrysler and GM are what Marx meant by the means of production.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pnh102

Agreed. Remember, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth getting paid for. Inevitably, the callers begging you to volunteer your services are, themselves, PAID. I already give the government more than I get in return, so if you want my services, get out your checkbook.


5 posted on 06/15/2009 11:47:21 AM PDT by July4 (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

I’ve noticed a recent sharp increase in government radio ads for “good citizenry” behavior.


6 posted on 06/15/2009 11:47:21 AM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

Those who aren’t capable of starting or running businesses need to find some way to contribute. there are some things that can’t be done profitably and the best use of resources is to have the least productive citizens doing them. The greatest service to the community is profitable private enterprise.


7 posted on 06/15/2009 11:50:11 AM PDT by Rippin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

I volunteer for an eleven hour shift weekly with an additional 24 hour shift monthly. I provide EMS services to my community. In addition to actual time serving on the ambulance the state requires untold hours of training and classroom instruction to get my certification and to keep it. In addition to that, I volunteer as an officer in my squad.

I enjoy the time I spend at this, but I don’t think it is for everyone.


8 posted on 06/15/2009 11:52:50 AM PDT by tioga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

The greatest community service would be to take a course or two on manners.


9 posted on 06/15/2009 11:53:37 AM PDT by monocle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

When someone calls or sticks their hand out I say I already gave all my money to the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in D.C.

I suggest that they give him a call and tell him that I said it was okay for him to give them some of it.

I don’t get many repeats, but I am sure I am on at least one list in D.C.....


10 posted on 06/15/2009 11:58:07 AM PDT by Semper Vigilantis (Don't blame me - I voted for THE AMERICAN guy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

The people who do community service regularly are those who already take care of themselves, their family, pay taxes, and contribute to society. They are already the foundation of society.


11 posted on 06/15/2009 12:00:26 PM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rippin

As I proposed on another thread, if we had a volunteeer Healthcare Plan with ALL types (janitors, receptionists, CNA’s, RN,s, Doctors, Plumbers, Electricians, etc) getting a healthy tax credit for their taxes each yrs equivalent to their hours volunteered at a non profit clinic, then we could have great free clinics for the uninsured and not cost taxpayers a dime.

So if Zero wants volunteers let’s do it in Healthcare!


12 posted on 06/15/2009 12:01:59 PM PDT by Kackikat (It isn''t over till it's over, and it s not over yet.....when the TRUMPET sounds I'll be gone...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: monocle

I think that good parenting would do wonders as far as manners are concerned.


13 posted on 06/15/2009 12:04:37 PM PDT by mrmeyer ("When brute force is on the march, compromise is the red carpet." Ayn Rand)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

Those must have been aired in Latham, Massachusetts. :)


14 posted on 06/15/2009 12:08:18 PM PDT by RexBeach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Starman417
The community service problem I've always encountered is with "true believers" who are driven to it because they have convinced themselves that they alone can “make a difference”, but have no more to offer than blind ideology/naked ambition - no education, no skills, no experience relevant to the task at hand. Just emotion and self-assured belief.

Like helicopter/soccer mommies who are convinced that they have the best answer to the school boards issues, if only everyone would just shut up and let them run things, or the smarmy little metro-man with a hidden agenda who has to keep reminding everyone how much he knows, and has made changing the world his hobby, they're long on rhetoric, but short on effective action.

You usually see them in Subaru's and Volvo's, festooned with ubiquitous “Hopey/Changey”, “Think Globally, Act Locally”, endless variations on a rainbow theme, those insipid little blue and yellow “Equal Signs”, and “1/21/2009” bumperstickers.

They have to work for free, because no one will hire them. Exactly the kind of folks Obama wants to run "his" AmeriKKKa.

15 posted on 06/15/2009 12:09:58 PM PDT by conservativeharleyguy (Democrats: Over 60 million fooled daily!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mrmeyer

I seen “good parenting” produce the rudest, most self-centered animals one can imagine.


16 posted on 06/15/2009 12:18:45 PM PDT by monocle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

Personally, I would like to find time to perform community service with the USO or at Veteran’s Hospitals. I want to do something for the military, guys and gals, active and inactive.


17 posted on 06/15/2009 12:27:39 PM PDT by Tahoe3002
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Starman417

I do volunteer EMS and Girl Scouts. Corzine wants to go regional (paid, ie more gov’t employees) EMS and GS above the troop level drives me crazy with PC.

I like doing my volunteer work. I have a great time. Pressure me to do it, require my kids to do it and it’s not happening any more.


18 posted on 06/15/2009 12:39:21 PM PDT by heartwood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: heartwood

Right with ya. Community service by it’s nature is voluntary. Mandating service is a form of slavery. I do a LOT of service work because I see a need since God gifted to me many talents that others don’t have. (Real version of sharing the wealth). But if I am forced to do commune service, I will do a crappy job. Kinda like the forced monitary charity in the form of taxes. If my taxes were a lot lower, I could be more generous with local charities. But when dims run the show, they want to be generous with my funds, leaving me with a lot less.


19 posted on 06/15/2009 1:17:50 PM PDT by Texas resident (Texan by birth and by choice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson