1Declaration: Free Markets, Free People, Free Minds

Libertarian Presidential nominee Bob Barr offers fierce criticism to Barack Obama's forced public service proposal. I for one could not agree more.

'Americans are among the most generous people on the planet and excel at serving one another,' says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate. 'Unfortunately, Sen. Barack Obama wants to turn service into a government requirement' by forcing middle, high school, and college students to work in federally approved jobs. 'But service must be an outgrowth of the heart to be life-changing for both parties. It isn’t possible to mandate generosity or coerce compassion,' Barr explains.

Public service is not strictly a formal function that can be done by only serving state or federal government. Service is about helping your fellow man and clearly Americans have done just that. Americans in the past year donated over $300 billion to help with numerous causes from international to domestic aid. Service does not end with monetary donations with millions of man hours each year put into volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, countless numbers of soup kitchens, and numerous religious organizations. Need I remind you of thousands of Americans helping those devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Rita including myself.

This country faces numerous other problems that cannot be fixed by forced governmental service. A Social Security system being bankrupted, out of control government spending, unconstitutional power grabs from the states, dwindling civil liberties, and welfare programs that hinder the poor from bringing themselves out of poverty. Not to mention a flawed income tax system that keeps the corrupt in power, puts American products at a disadvantage in the global market place, penalizes hard work and saving, encourages debt spending, and gives special interests a special voice that needs to be completely replaced with the Fair Tax.

Other problems are just as serious including a declining US dollar, high energy costs because of governmental regulation, declining public education at the hands of the teachers union, the NEA, and bloated, unconstitutional Department of Education, and the federal governments general disregard for the Constitution. The list can go on and on. Forced governmental service will be another governmental power grab that strips individual choice and Liberties. "'Washington politicians should not be telling schools across America how many hours their students should work, and in what kinds of jobs,' says Barr. 'The Founders displayed great genius when the framed the Constitution, because they limited the federal government to national problems while preserving state and local authority over such issues as education, including youth service.'"

Barr concludes:

Everyone agrees that service is a wonderful gift from those with much to those with little. But we should not sacrifice the great value of voluntary service by turning it into a government requirement.

The desire to serve others cannot be forced. It must come from the heart and soul of an individual. Compulsory service will only breed contempt and distrust for the government that mandates it. Americans are the most generous and service minded people in the world. A government mandate requiring service is an insult to those that have freely and willingly dedicated their life, time, or money in service of their fellow man or woman.

To read the rest of the article check out Barr's Blog: Bob Barr 2008 Blog » Blog Archive » Barr criticizes Obama’s national service proposal

When I mention the term global warming what first comes to your mind? You probably fall into two camps. 1) Some of you are thinking that Al Gore is a demigod and that global warming is the most dangerous threat to world civilization today. 2) The rest of you, myself included, have significant doubts or even speak out against anthropologically caused global warming.

Which group you fall into does not really matter because the global warming alarmism is not about saving the planet by the leaders who are pushing the agenda. The movement is solely about the acquisition of power, wealth, and to change the fundamental principles of the American way of life. I am not talking about transitioning towards renewable energies but instead about changing the fundamental principles of American society namely a greater movement towards government controlled society for the benefit of the collective.

As an avid follower and researcher of Chinese politics one cannot help but notice the similarities between the Chinese Cultural Revolution starting in May of 1966. The Cultural Revolution was started by Mao Zedong (毛泽东）in an effort to throw off the final elements of bourgouis oppression to complete the revolutionary class struggle. The effort was actaully a movement to sure up his support against the growing power of rivals Deng Xiaoping （邓小平）and Liu Shaoqi (刘少奇).

In much the same way the environmentalists like Chairman Mao have created a warlike environment and spread fear in order to achieve their goals of greater socialism and government control. By creating this warlike environment these people have created a situation that those who speak out against their movement by spreading sound scientific findings to dispute the rhetoric of environmentalists and liberals more generally. This has been a tactic of the left for nearly a centuy.

In order to create a socialistic or fascistic society liberals have been forced to create a hostile environment that will mobilize society to take action because individuals who do not feel threatened will do not easily succomb to these political whims. President Woodrow Wilson jailed over 200,000 US citizens, political prisoners, who questioned our involvement in World War I. FDR used WWII to bring in a new brand of socialism that was known as the New Deal that we still suffer from today (Jonah Goldberg has a great chapter in his book, Liberal Fasicsm about this subject). President LBJ established a god like history of JFK to create a war like environment to move foward his own desires for more power with his Great Society plan, once again which has proven to be a failed program that has increased the national debt and not resolved the social problems that it was imagined to.

Al Gore has continued this legacy and has become a mulitmillionare virtually overnight by spreading fear. He has created an environment where people can no longer speak freely without the possibility of being ostracized without their political or scientific career being in jeopardy. This seems remarably similar to Wilson's jailing of political dissidents who questioned our involvement in World War I.

Global warming is not about solving environmental problems that are still highly debated in the academic sphere. Instead it is about acruing more power for the government at the hands of the individuals and groups that spread the rhetoric to regulate society and strip individual liberties. This movement is largely sponsored by the fascistic left and of the "progressive" right in an attempt to further regulate society into a movement for the collective and solidify their hold on power.