Sept. 11th, 2008:

• John McCain’s interview: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
  • Says outright he’s against compulsory service.
  • Advocates growing the military several times.
  • Claims private industry provides services better, wishes to create partnerships with business instead of having the government take on those roles.
  • Points to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security as bipartisan cooperation that is needed to gain trust and support of the public.
  • “It’s not about the individual, it’s about the cause we serve.”
  • “I think the all voluntary force is having difficulty recruiting and retaining because we are too small and we need to expand the size of our military and we need to do it as rapidly as possible. And we got to perhaps offer additional incentives.”
  • Apparently, without knowing what the Serve America Act does, McCain says he would sign the bill as president.
  • Would rather have the private sphere perform the voluntarism and only have the government provide incentives.
• Barack Obama’s interview: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
  • “Each and everyone of us are going to have, are going to make commitments in terms of improving fuel efficiency in our cars and homes. And the government is going to be in partnership with citizens to make that happen.”
  • “America is the greatest country on earth but it didn’t just happen on its own. It’s not a gift only. Although it is a great blessing we’ve received. It’s a responsibility. And part of what makes America work is the fact that we believe in individual responsibility and self reliance but we also believe in mutual responsibility, in neighborliness, in a sense that we are committed to something larger than ourselves.”
  • Speaks of growing the military. Getting those in urban areas to be equally represented in the military.
  • Wants more people in the military and non-military service regardless of whether there is a war.
• Interviewed a City Year ‘volunteer’ but my questions and pins on my book bag (”Taxation is theft”, “Ron Paul 2008″) scared them off. The Service Nation handler asked me to turn off the camera, that he didn’t want any problems, that it was a positive event. The City Year ‘volunteer’ said he couldn’t speak on the topic as a representative of City Year.

Sept. 12th, 2008:

• I spoke with a fellow blogger regarding my reason for being at the summit. She was there on behalf of the Case Foundation which is a Service Nation Coalition member.
• Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME, effectively asks “why not have compulsory service?” during presidential forum. The tone of the questions and the fact it’s brought up more than once indicates to me he is in favor of mandatory service. In his own brief speech he talks of the most known part of the Declaration of Independence but casually bypasses arguably the most important line. Focusing on “consent of the governed” instead of “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Implying, IMO, he prefers a positive law democracy vs natural law republics.
• Jon Bon Jovi speaks on his private charities. Many examples of service and voluntarism given were in fact actual privately performed.
• Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York tells us [Part 2]: “We’re not here as Democrats or Republicans or as libertarians, socialists, Green party members, or members of other organizations. We are here today first and primarily as Americans.” Claims being a citizen is the highest achievement.
• Admiral Michael Mullen [Part 2]: “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!
• Michael Bloomberg [Part 2]: “We are the beneficiaries of those who give their lives to defend us.” “Service should be asked of everyone and should be open to everyone. So we are creating new programs.”
• University president’s [Part 2]: Speak of giving out grants to those who volunteer at school. Making voluntarism mandatory parts of the education process.
• Alan Khazei: Misuses/misrepresents the Emancipation Proclamation. Need a new role for government. Funding public/private mix of service. “Getting government to do what works.” Speaks of Gandhi, abolitionists, and others. All of who worked against government.
• George H. W. Bush
• Bill Clinton
• Town Hall [Part 2,3,4,5,6]

These are all the videos I’m going to upload… at least for the time being.

Sorry about the last few not having notes. Too lazy to watch them. You can find some notes I took during the event here.

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.

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