Barack Obama recently said, "Loving your country shouldn't just mean fireworks on the 4th of July. Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. If you do, your life will be richer, our country will be stronger."
On the surface, I agree. In fact, I do many things to be involved, and make my life richer, and country stronger. I volunteer my time for charitable organizations, recycle, contribute my time and money to the political campaigns I agree with, broadcast on Political Pistachio Radio seven nights a week (and co-host three other shows in addition to my shows) to help get the word out about conservatism, write on various blogs, and of course donate money to a couple choice charities. In addition to what I currently do, I am also a United States Navy Veteran, partially disabled from my service in the military. I would say that I am one that has made sure that I am involved in making my country stronger, and appreciate the fact that I have the choice to voluntarily do so.
Barack Obama, however, may have something else in mind. He wants all Americans to serve directly, nearly to the point of demanding it. And he is determined to create opportunities for Americans to encourage them to serve, just in case they somehow reject his call to serve. He doesn't tell us exactly how much of the taxpayer funds he plans to spend, and of course he doesn't tell you where that money will come from, specifically, but it will definitely result in an increase in taxes for everyone.
One of Obama plans is to increase the size of the military through using a number of incentives. Ooops, there goes that military budget increasing again. Wait a second, isn't it the Obama followers that complain most about how much money is being spent on the military? Ahhh, but increasing the military budget under the watch of a liberal Democrat by dangling carrots in front of potential recruits is fine and dandy with these people. Problem is, serving in the military is not enough. After all, not all Americans are the "military type." And we don't want to leave anyone out in this fantastical brave new world of hope and change. So, Obama, in his desire that all Americans to have the opportunity to serve, has come up with a great plan.
Are you still with me, comrades? Doesn't sound too bad, yet, right? I mean, aside from all the money he plans to spend to implement this, it is a great opportunity for us to not embarrass ourselves and our future president (remember, only knowing one language, and not teaching our children Spanish, is embarrassing Barack Obama to tears as it is).
On top of increasing the size of the military, which as I said I find interesting since the left is normally so anti-military, Barack Obama has promised to also increase AmeriCorps slots from 75,000 to 250,000, and has pledged to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011.
But wait, my dear friends! There's more!!
In preparation for sending us into this Obama version of a brave new world of hope and change, Obama said, "We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."
Whoa!!! Hit the brakes! He said what?
Read it again carfully. Obama wishes to implement a civilian force that is armed and populated with never before seen numbers of people roaming our streets in order to keep us safe and protected from. . .
I first found out about this idea for Obama's civilian army when my buddy Snooper mentioned it on "A Newt One." And it got me thinking more and more as time passed. Then, on Joshua P. Allem's BlogTalkRadio show, it was brought up again. And I began to really think about the implications, and the historical precedence. What may this civilian national security force, which will obviously be well-equipped and armed to the teeth with the latest weapons of war (after all, he said as powerful and strong as the military) be tasked with? I began to ask myself.
Obama is not very clear on that. The force will be pretty powerful, though. Think about it, he said it will be as powerful, strong, and well funded as the military (as a whole, apparently) which means this civilian force will have as many service members, and be as equipped with weaponry, as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard combined. Pretty dang strong, if you ask me. But hey, this is Obama's promise of a recipe for "peace and safety," so let's entertain it for a little while, if not at least for the comedy value regarding his ignorance.
To try to determine Barack Obama's intentions with this massive civilian national security force, I began to look back at history for examples of such civilian national security forces to draw a conclusion.
My first visit to history was when Franklin Delano Roosevelt set up the Civilian Conservation Corps to put Americans to work during the worst of the Great Depression (1929-1936). FDR's inner circle had also urged the new president to deputize the American Legion as an "extraconstitutional" "private army." What he did with civilian service corps put a lot of people to work, but it bordered on dangerous because of the growing bureaucracy that placed the government in a position of control over a number of lives, and could have created the private army that FDR's inner circle was calling for.
When thinking about Obama's civilian national security force, it brings to mind that same danger. Such a program would make the Federal government the single largest employer in the nation. The millions put to work by this addition to our growing bureaucracy would constitute the largest pro-government voting block in the country. Indirectly, it would enable Federal power to grow, and grow, and grow some more. When comparing such models to those of socialist and communist models, there are some sinister undertones.
To find the more sinister examples of civilian national security forces one must delve deep into history, but not so deep that it was very long ago. In fact, the best examples all existed less than one hundred years ago. Hitler used the Brown Shirts as his own personal civilian security force. The Brown Shirts, or Storm Troopers, in their distinctive brown uniforms, were organized first to kick out hecklers at Nazi meetings, then to break up the meetings of other parties. Mussolini's Black Shirts were mainly discontent ex-soldiers. This civilian national security force was originally organized to break up strikes, destroy trade union headquarters, and drive opposing government officials from office. It was their efforts that culminated into bringing Mussolini into power.
This is not to even mention how Soviet Russia and Communist China (in addition to numerous other communist regimes in history) have used civilian forces and youth organizations (not much unlike the Hitler Youth) to create fear in the citizens - whipping them into shape - making them more than just citizens of their nation. . . it gave them the opportunity to accept the responsibility to do their part to change their country. It was promised that if they did so their lives would be richer, and the nation would be stronger. After all, the rising leadership proclaimed, they could not longer rely only on the devastated military in order to achieve the national security objectives they had set. They argued that they needed a strong and powerful civilian national security force to keep the citizens safe.
Yes, my dear Americans, Comrade Obama has it all figured out.