H.R. 1388 and S.277

People. If you have no idea what those numbers mean, pay attention. And get ready to CALL YOUR SENATORS!

When conservatives warned that a democratic Congress, BHO, and their willing accomplices in the media would pull this country to the hard left…and do it very quickly…most of America yawned and passed it off as bitter obstructionism. Well, hold on to your conceptions about our country, and a double-hold on your children.

After nearly nationalizing the banking system, attempting to nationalize America’s energy producers, essentially nationalizing the mortgage market, and profoundly failing at every turn, your government now wants to control charities. You know, they’ve done such a great job with the “War on Poverty” that they might as well go whole-hog and use the resources of the Nation’s vast network of privately run charities, right?

But, smoldering underneath the surface is a hidden agenda more radical than anything they’ve done so far, in the guise of “doing more” for charity.

They are coming for your children.

This is a bill so subtly and vaguely worded that only a bureaucrat could figure out what it means, but I’m going to post here snippets of it along with some excellent explanations. Contrary to the well-parsed response to my complaint that Senator Sherrod Brown wrote me earlier this week, it DOES mean mandatory servitude for my children…we know from experience what happens when unaccountable bureaucrats are given unlimited power.

From the bill itself, a direction to a committee it creates:

“The effect on the Nation, on those who serve, and on the families of those who serve, if all individuals in the United States were expected to perform national service or were required to perform a certain amount of national service. (6) 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.”

Don’t want your children spending 50 hours serving ACORN? Tough. Don’t want your college student wasting 100 hours supporting abortion rights? Sorry ’bout your luck. It’s all there, folks. But wait, there’s more from The Voice magazine (h/t: AllAmericanBlogger):

This bill’s title is called “Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education” (GIVE). It forms what some are calling “Obama’s Youth Brigade.” Obama’s plan is require anyone receiving school loans and others to serve at least three months as part of the brigade. His goal is one million youth! This has serious Nazi Germany overtones to it.

The Bill would forbid any student in the brigade to participate in “engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.” That means no church attendance or witnessing.

Again, is this what America voted for? Here is part of the HR1388 Bill’s wording:

SEC. 1304. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

Section 125 (42 U.S.C. 12575) is amended to read as follows:

SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

(1) Attempting to influence legislation.

(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.
…

(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

So, how does it feel to watch the Constitution being shredded before your eyes? That’s what’s happening isn’t it? This bill not only marginalizes organized religion, it prohibits the free exercise thereof, in direct violation of the First Amendment. So what’s to keep this bunch of hooligans from eviscerating the rest of the Constitution…maybe some article or right that’s important to you.

This whole thing is disturbing enough, but as a Catholic, I can’t help but fear for my Church. It’s a slippery slope when the government takes control of the charitable activities of your church, let alone conscripts your children into servitude for itself and it’s own ends, but think about this: When the government has the control of the charitable arm of the Church, how long will it be before the government is in control of the Church’s purse strings, and thereafter, the Church itself?

Further reading (required!):
Redstate
Sen. Jim DeMint
The Heritage Foundation
SayAnything