Posted on 10/02/2004 12:46:46 PM PDT by GailA
DLC | Blueprint Magazine
July 25, 2004 National Service
By Marc Porter Magee
If John Kerry wins the presidency, he plans to expand the cornerstone New Democrat idea of national service to a truly national scale. Building on the beachhead that was established through the creation of AmeriCorps in the 1990s, Kerry would dramatically increase both the opportunities and the incentives for service. Just as importantly, he would connect service to the key domestic and international challenges of our time, such as providing for a strong national defense, bolstering homeland security, and improving our public schools.
At the heart of Kerry's national service agenda is his proposal to tie aid for college tuition to service in America's communities. Tuition costs at public colleges and universities have gone up 28 percent in the last three years. Kerry's "Compact with the Next Generation" would offer an attractive reciprocal bargain to America's youth: four years free tuition at a public college or university in exchange for two years of national service.
Kerry aims to bring 200,000 young people a year into full-time service in their communities within a decade through his Service for College proposal. There would be 25,000 working in homeland security efforts; 75,000 serving as teachers, tutors, or mentors; and 100,000 building affordable housing and working to keep water and parks clean. Kerry would also bring 300,000 college students into part-time service as tutors and mentors for at-risk kids, in exchange for $2,000 per year in tuition aid.
Together, these initiatives would give 500,000 young people each year the chance to earn money for college through national service. That's more volunteers in one year than have served in the entire history of AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps combined.
While scaling up support for service in America's communities, the Kerry plan also recognizes that no obligation is more fundamental to citizenship than that of preserving our free institutions by serving in the military. To encourage more citizens to share that burden, Kerry would bring an additional 40,000 Americans into the regular Army, recruit a more representative officer corps by returning the ROTC program to every college and university that receives federal funds, and modernize the GI Bill to increase the educational opportunities of those who serve.
Finally, to assist our overburdened Armed Forces and support the spread of freedom and democracy abroad, Kerry proposes the creation of a Civilian Stability Corps, which would bring civilian volunteers into post-conflict environments overseas, helping to restore roads, renovate schools, open hospitals, and build police forces. Working alongside this Civilian Stability Corps would be a reenergized 25,000-member Peace Corps, up from its current 6,700.
Kerry's ambitious initiatives contrast sharply with the Bush administration's record of challenging citizens to do little more than fly on domestic airlines and spend their tax cuts. By making a "call to service" a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, Kerry is proving that he stands for a broader concept of patriotism that demands active involvement from an engaged citizenry to meet our country's most serious challenges.
Marc Porter Magee is director of the Center for Civic Enterprise at the Progressive Policy Institute.
Nanny state...
Gag me.
Big government programs don't work.... I think that has been proven in history...
Ownership programs need to be given the same chance that big government programs were given.
Talk about establishing a draft!!! When are the people gonna realize the link between government aid and tuition hikes?
Must have been frustrating that 2 points was all they could cheat.
modern day slavery
Here is the link to WebArchived, saved from Kerry's own website ( and removed since)
http://web.archive.org/web/20040210043828/www.johnkerry.com/issues/natservice/
Creating a New Army of Patriots
On September 11th, 2001, America experienced the most terrible and deadly attack in its history. Yet, President Bush's response was to call on Americans to wait in long lines at airports, go shopping, or wrap their windows in plastic.
As President, John Kerry will have the courage to lead and call on all Americans to make our nation stronger. Whether it is protecting America from the threats of terrorism or addressing the problems we have at home, America's new challenges will not be met by the same old answers of big government or big tax cuts for the wealthy. John Kerry will call on all Americans - tapping into the idealism and ingenuity of Americans and putting it to work on building a safer, stronger, and more secure nation.
Americans already make an enormous difference in their communities, volunteering, in Boys and Girls Clubs or homeless shelters. Many Americans do full time service. John Kerry believes that in these times, we need to bolster these efforts with a nationwide commitment to national service.
Whether it is a Summer of Service for our teenagers, helping young people serve their country in return for college, or the Older Americans in Service program, John Kerry's plan will call on every American of every age and every background to serve. John Kerry will set a goal of one million Americans a year in national service within the next decade.
John Kerry Outlines Plan to Require Service for High School Students
Part of 100 days Plan to Enlist One Million Americans in National Service A Year
On September 11th, 2001, America experienced the most terrible and deadly attack in its history. John Kerry believes we need to think big and do better and get more young Americans serving the nation.
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.
Kerry aims to bring 200,000 young people a year into full-time service in their communities within a decade through his Service for College proposal. There would be 25,000 working in homeland security efforts; 75,000 serving as teachers, tutors, or mentors; and 100,000 building affordable housing and working to keep water and parks clean. Kerry would also bring 300,000 college students into part-time service as tutors and mentors for at-risk kids, in exchange for $2,000 per year in tuition aid.
The only thing they left out of this hippie nonsense was 'saving wild animals' and 'preserving the rain forest'
A covert socialist state.
This is an example of Kerry's supporter perks. High paying government jobs going to elitist and their children. A liberal give-away program teaching our youth nothing, but the government sugar-tit. Reminds me of klintoon's Americorps program.Kerry doesn't have enough sense to poor mush from a full boot.
http://www.freedomunderground.org/view.php?v=3&t=3&aid=9953
Not to be confused with draft legislation introduced by Congressman Charles Rangel in 2003 and it is not associated with any Democrat.This PLAN is the work entirely of George W. Bush and his Republican comrades.
This is a SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT. In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department. This draft would change the essential mission of the Selective Service and require “virtually every young American,” male and female ages 18–34, to register for the Skills Draft and list all the occupations they are proficient in to fill labor shortages throughout nearly the entire government. If enacted, the Skills Draft proposed in this FOI- recovered document would change America as we know it.
...
This secret paper urges the mission be changed “promptly,” meaning they really need it, it would draft for the Pentagon as well as the enormous Homeland Security branches as well as other government agencies, even state and local!
..
In sharp contrast to all this preparation for a Spring 2005 draft by Bush, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry has proposed a military plan that rejects any draft, by adding 20,000 active duty combat soldiers and 20,000 active “reconstruction specialists.” At a Wisconsin high school, Kerry pledged in June, 2004, that the draft would be “absolutely unnecessary.” When asked in April by 130 college editors in a conference call as to whether he would support a draft, John Kerry said unequivocally: “No. No draft” and he has criticized the use of the Guard and Reserve and now the Individual Ready Reserve as a “back-door draft.
”Kerry plans to spend an additional $7 billion to strengthen the Volunteer Army in what is essentially a “No-Draft Plan,” Moreover, Kerry is strongly opposed to the neo-con plan revealed in Wes Clark’s book, in which Clark was told by a senior Pentagon official that invasions of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and Somalia are still to come over the next three years.
theBlatantTruth: exposing the Bush Doctrine of greed, repression and fraud
http://blatanttruth.org
These people are getting on my last nerve.
I just visited the site. What twisted sisters! They are spouting misinformation. Young people are following a bunch of fools who think lying is truthful. How can we counterattack this nonsense?
1 - This has gotten abosolutely no play in any media, and note the date Last July.
But oh-no... Brokow, Rather, Jennings would rather squeel like girls with a bad hair perm over "those icky" bloggers who discovered the "frauds" of Dan Rather!
They are not worth your last nerve, Gail. These folks have "impulses" but not nerves; ergo, don't give them any of your precious ones! :)
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