Constant Conservative

From Fox:

The House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday that supporters are calling the most sweeping reform of nationally-backed volunteer programs since AmeriCorps. But some opponents are strongly criticizing the legislation, calling it expensive indoctrination and forced advocacy.

I’m one of those opponents, if you didn’t know that. South Dakota’s lone representative, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is not. She voted “Yea” to pass this bill.

The legislation, slated to cost $6 billion over five years, would create 175,000 “new service opportunities” under AmeriCorps, bringing the number of participants in the national volunteer program to 250,000. It would also create additional “corps” to expand the reach of volunteerism into new sectors, including a Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps and Veterans Service Corps, and it expands the National Civilian Community Corps to focus on additional areas like disaster relief and energy conservation.

Is any one else feeling a little strange to hear of all these different areas for volunteerism? How about that “Clean Energy Corps”?

One section of the bill (full text here) states that the bill would create a commission to determine:

Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.

Mandatory? I realize that this bill includes setting up a commission to see if this is possible, but the way in which this piece is worded makes it rather apparent to me that the foreordained conclusion is “yes it is, we just have to work out the details.”