Senator Obama's Civilian National Security Force

Fr. Z: Sen. Obama’s proposal of a “civilian national security force” - deja vu?

Most of the reaction was in July, when he made his remarks:
The Volokh Conspiracy - Funding Barack Obama's "civilian national security force"
American Thinker: Obama's Civilian National Security Force
Obama's 'civilian national security force'
Obama's call for more public service: The Swamp

Another blog post from this month:
Obama’s Civilian National Security Force Plans

Senator Obama has already proposed universal voluntary public service:

Barack Obama's Plan

Enable All Americans to Serve to Meet the Nation's Challenges

• Expand Corporation for National and Community Service: Obama will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots today to 250,000 and he will focus this expansion on addressing the great challenges facing the nation. He will establish a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students, with a priority placed on underserved schools; a Health Corps to improve public health outreach; a Clean Energy Corps to conduct weatherization and renewable energy projects; a Veterans Corps to assist veterans at hospitals, nursing homes and homeless shelters; and a Homeland Security Corps to help communities plan, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
• Engage Retiring Americans in Service on a Large Scale: Older Americans have a wide range of skills and knowledge to contribute. Obama will expand and improve programs that connect individuals over the age of 55 to quality volunteer opportunities.
• Expand the Peace Corps: Obama will double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by 2011. He will work with the leaders of other countries to build an international network of overseas volunteers so that Americans work side-by-side with volunteers from other countries.
• Show the World the Best Face of America: Obama will set up an America's Voice Initiative to send Americans who are fluent speakers of local languages to expand our public diplomacy. He also will extend opportunities for older individuals such as teachers, engineers, and doctors to serve overseas.

Integrate Service into Learning

• Expand Service-Learning in Our Nation's Schools: Obama will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year. He will develop national guidelines for service- learning and will give schools better tools both to develop programs and to document student experience. Green Job Corps: Obama will create an energy-focused youth jobs program to provide disadvantaged youth with service opportunities weatherizing buildings and getting practical experience in fast-growing career fields.
• Expand YouthBuild Program: Obama will expand the YouthBuild program, which gives disadvantaged young people the chance to complete their high school education, learn valuable skills and build affordable housing in their communities. He will grow the program so that 50,000 low-income young people a year a chance to learn construction job skills and complete high school.
• Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
• Promote College Serve-Study: Obama will ensure that at least 25 percent of College Work-Study funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries.

Invest in the Nonprofit Sector

• Social Investment Fund Network: Obama will create a Social Investment Fund Network to use federal seed money to leverage private sector funding to improve local innovation, test the impact of new ideas and expand successful programs to scale.
• Social Entrepreneurship Agency for Nonprofits: Barack Obama will a create an agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector.

What to make of all of this? With respect to national service, it's another expansion of the government, and attempt to implement a nation-wide solution from the central government, adding a layer of bureaucracy that is not needed. Service should be handled locally, but this also needs to be done in tandem with economic reform. The American taxpayers cannot afford to subsidize another poorly-considered program that will not have lasting effects on the political economy.

Instead of service-learning or "community service" maybe we should encourage communities to recover something of communal life. Meembers of those communities need to learn what their normal duties are, and how to care for their neighbors. But that would presuppose a humane economy, wouldn't it? Becoming rooted in place is a necessary part of relocalization and communal life, and if the political economy gives people a strong incentive (or even makes it necessary) for people to be mobile, then this is a fundamental problem that should be resolved first.

If work study is being funded through the Federal Government, maybe we should reconsider getting rid of work study (and Federal loans), as a part of reforming higher education. But you see that neither candidate really wants to address the university scam.

He will grow the program so that 50,000 low-income young people a year a chance to learn construction job skills and complete high school.

Yes, because we don't have enough construction going on right now--apparently the Senator has not heard about the housing and commercial real estate bubbles. (And what do we do about the illegal aliens who are working in construction, who are competing with Americans for jobs?)

We could probably look at each of his proposals and say that it is no better than what you would get from a high school student running for office--proposals that may be appealing because of their lack of specificity, but which do nothing, except to inflate egos and to pad resumes or applications.

Certainly they do nothing to address the social injustice of the political economy; they merely reinforce it by providing another Federally funded statist/welfare program to deal with the effects. "It's not the system that is a problem; it's just that you aren't getting enough Federal help to equalize your opportunity to succeed in the system."

As for his call for a civilian national security force--in short, it seems stupid, if he is really talking about an armed group responsible for providing security and enforcing [some] laws. It's not surprising that he hasn't talked about it since.

He probably isn't talking about subsidiarity or decentralization of power, but the creation of an alternate national armed force? At least that is what the words "security force" imply--and when it is compared to the military, what other conclusion is the audience supposed to draw?

The National Government would not tolerate the development of alternate loci of substantial armed authority, one not under its control. It seems to me to be an implicit admission that we no longer have genuine state militias, which is what we need. And if someone objects, saying that people cannot be trusted to defend themselves and their neighbors under the authority of their local communities or states, then we must ask, what does this say about them and their proposal to form a civilian security force? Would a Federal authority be more effective in preventing the people from rising up against tyranny?

It seems unlikely that he will bring this up again, or that anyone in the MSM will seek clarification.

For more thoughts about militias, see Fabius Maximus's Militia - the ultimate defense against 4GW. (There is also this pdf file: Militia: the dominant defensive force in 21st Century 4GW?)