“It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service… Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They’ll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state”— Rahm Emanuel, Barak Obama’s Chief of Staff
Just a quick note about the “USA Patriot Act”. It’s an acronym for: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. By having the full name of this piece of law spell out “patriot” it is useful for making Americans feel unpatriotic for resisting it and encourages consent by evoking the patriotism that is an assumed corollary to citizenship.
From wiki:
The Act increases the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial and other records; eases restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States; expands the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities; and enhances the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The act also expands the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded law enforcement powers can be applied.
I think this is pretty different than requiring youth to perform community service hours or serve 3 months in civil defense training (if you create a culture of war, is it really surprising that your citizens need to know basic civilian defense?) So I think Emanuel’s comparison is apt if it re-positions patriotism as something that citizens perform rather than have performed upon them.
Honestly, I was shocked when I first read the Emanuel quote, but I don’t know enough about Obama’s planned community service policies to properly offer a specific critique.
