Service Nation Summit: Day Two
Posted on September 12th, 2008 by bile Tags: 9/11, America, AmeriCorp, Americorps, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Benjamin C. Freakley, Bentley College, Bloomberg, Case Foundation, cents, Christopher Dodd, City Year, Civilian Conservation Corp, David Gergen, Duke University, George Bush, Goldman Sachs, Green Party, healthcare, Henri Makembe, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, Jon Bon Jovi, Jon Roland, Korea, Laura Bush, Mahatma Gandhi, Mehmet Oz, Michael Mullen, Mike Bloomberg, mother teressa, national service, New Orleans, New York City, Pakistan, Richard Stengel, Secret Service, Serve America Act, Service Nation, Service Nation Summit, social networking, Tufts University, Tulane University, United States, universal healthcare, voluntarism, William James, Winston Churchill 8 Comments »Opening:
- Was just visited by Henri Makembe. Told me they would be providing for interview with people but I’d have to keep it friendly. “If we make them mad then they won’t want to give any of the other bloggers time.” So… they don’t want me to ask serious questions. What a surprise.
- Have quoted Winston Churchill, Mother Teressa, Mahatma Gandhi.
- They show all these examples of service yet they all appear to be real voluntarism, ie no government involvement.
- “We are not here as Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, socialists or Green party members. We are here as Americans.” I appreciate the shout out but I’m here as a libertarian.
- “We are here today because of Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.” Too bad they don’t wish to abide by the ideas contained in those documents.
- “Politicians get a bad wrap. Some deservingly. But there are all kinds of politicians who help America.”
- Being a citizen of the United States is the highest reward.
- If you googled “giving back” you’d likely find “Mike Bloomberg.”
- Bloomberg: New York City’s government school system improvement is an example for the rest of the nation.
- New York City is the city of service because William James who wrote The Moral Equivalent of War (intro by Jon Roland) advocating national service was born here.
- “We are the beneficiaries of those who give their lives to defend us.” Defending from the Koreans? The Vietnamese? The Iraqis? The Pakistanis? The Iranians?
- Bloomberg babbles on about global warming, “We are polluting the air we breath.” Yes… by breathing.
- “Service should be asked of everyone and should be open to everyone. So we are creating new programs.”
- “Democracy and capitalism hasn’t helped everyone…”
- George Bush: Asks everyone to spend two years or 4k hours helping out in a lifetime.
- Laura Bush: “People have more opportunities to volunteer through government programs.” Being incentivized by tax payers money is not voluntarism.
- Rolling Ridge elementary school gives it’s kids service journals and have made ’service’ party of the curriculum.
- “Children who learn the importance of service early are more likely to volunteer later in life.” Gotta indoctrinate them young.
- The program has moved on to personal stories from ‘volunteers.’ One from City Year, Civilian Conservation Corp, AmeriCorps.
- Admiral Michael Mullen: “the soldiers in Iraq are protecting our democracy at home. They are there because of what happened on 9/11.” I thought Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. How is it that our invasion of Iraq is protecting us?
- “There is no greater reward than working for something greater than yourself.”
- “Keep singing (God Bless America), keep waving (flags), and keep serving!” Yay nationalism/fascism!
- Obama, McCain, Dodd, Clinton have said they will cosponsor the Serve America Act from Kennedy and Hatch.
- The language used always refers to “the two candidates for the oval office.”
- Senator Hatch: “We want to help children who want to serve.”
- “Our efforts will start early in our classrooms.”
- “Service learning has shown to keep kids interested in school. So we are going to offer more incentives.”
- 61 million Americans volunteer without government incentives.
- “We will invest into a volunteer fund matched dollar for dollar from the private sector.”
- Want to create funds to help non-profit entrepreneurs.
- Offer older people “education rewards” to give to their children and grandchildren to pay for school.
