September 16, 2008 4:04PM 

# Bow Down Before the One You Serve 

By [Gene Healy](https://www.cato.org/people/gene-healy) 

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Last week, I wrote about the presidential candidates’ [September 11 confab on state-subsidized “service](https://www.cato.org/2008/09/11/youll-get-served/).” Today, [in the *Wall Street Journal*](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122143710912734333.html?mod=googlenews_wsj), Shika Dahlmia makes the case that even though both candidates hector us ceaselessly about national service, Obama has more detailed, and more troubling, plans:

> Mr. Obama would create several new corps of his own: a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students in underperforming schools; a Health Corps for underserved areas; a Clean Energy Corps to weatherize homes and promote energy independence. The last is separate from his Global Energy Corps, to promote low-carbon energy solutions in developing countries.
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> Mr. Obama calls all this his “Plan for Universal and Voluntary Citizen Service.” It might live up to its “universal” billing, given that it would prod Americans of all age groups — from preteens to retirees — to sign up. But as to its voluntariness, the plan will make generous use of Uncle Sam’s money — and muscle.
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> By Mr. Obama’s account, he will make federal education aid conditional on schools requiring that high-school and even middle-school students perform 50 hours of service each year. He will also offer college students $4,000 every year for doing 100 hours of public service. That works out to $40 an hour — a deal that only the very wealthy could refuse. (The Obama campaign puts the price tag for this alone at $10 billion.) He promises to provide older Americans who perform civic service with “additional income security, including assistance with retirement and family-related costs, and continuation of health-care coverage.” But a government that links benefits to service can take away benefits for nonservice.

Neither candidate explicitly endorses mandatory national service. But of course, if you can’t graduate high school without a stint in Obama’s Power Rangers, that’s hardly voluntary.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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