|
Dave Racer ~ PO Box 600160 ~ St. Paul, MN ~ 55106 ~ Write Dave
Collectivist Volunteerism May 29, 1998 "Son," I said to the 14-year old child in the 6' long body draped on the couch in front of Monday Nitro, "Mrs. Hanson wondered if you would put out her trash." Hanson is the 87-year old widow we see struggling up the street each morning steadied by her aluminum walker. "Imagine how she keeps up a house, as crippled as she is," we say. But she really cannot do it without neighborhood volunteers. Son rolls over and asks, "When, dad?" "Before the trash truck comes in the morning, son." "I like volunteering for that old women," he says as his pleased father experiences the pride that comes from watching children mature. "How much will she pay?" Ugh! Paid volunteerism. President Clinton and his kind are great adherents of this concept. AmeriCorps, a centralized, nationalized volunteer system that pays real money for good works, is only one example of this forced values mentality. Minnesota recently hosted a Clintonesque Youth Summit at which that paragon of family values, pro-abortion General Colin Powell, once again expressed his wholehearted support for mandatory volunteerism. He thinks students should be required to volunteer as part of their high school graduation requirements. I am all for volunteerism. But for rewards? "Give a cup of cold water in My name," a paraphrased admonition of Jesus Christ's, spoke of a heart motivated by love to serve others, not to gain reward. It is the kind of volunteerism that builds strong character and communities. It is an essential building block of a nation that relies on private individual effort and entrepreneurism to accomplish worthwhile public goals. When people have to be bribed, whether it be college tuition assistance or a passing grade in school, to do good service in their communities, it is an indication that a terminal heart problem exists. Yet, what else is to be expected in a culture that values human life so little that it looks the other way as innocent human life is snuffed out at the whim of the dark heart of a pregnant women; that has no regard for God the Giver of Life, the Giver of Charity? The erstwhile Godless USSR was noted for its mandatory "voluntary" workdays. It is to be expected in a society that relies on central government to make its assignments. Gen. Powell's comments are philosophically harmonized with that kind of thinking. Thank God, my son really would not have to be paid to help Mrs. Hanson. He has learned a God-centered perspective on life and service to others, the perspective needed in a nation that still believes in freedom and liberty. Let us call it what it is. Clinton and Powell believe in a collectivist mentality that forces or shames people into doing what is right, because they do not believe in God the life giver, as their moral authority. If their philosophy continues to dominate American thinking, we can expect what little is left of our liberty to evaporate. And my grandsons will be forced into volunteerism. |