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Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 04:23:29 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
From: Matthew Gaylor <<a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>>
Subject: AmeriCorps Is A Boondoggle For Bureaucrats
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<p>
[Note from Matthew Gaylor: I'm sure glad that John McCain's
presidential ambitions fizzled- And we should make sure that any
future dreams do the same.]
<p>
<p>
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001 10:28:25 -0500
To: <a href="mailto:freematt@coil.com">freematt@coil.com</a>
From: Jim Bovard <<a href="mailto:jbovard@his.com">jbovard@his.com</a>>
Subject: Matt - AmeriCorps Cures Cynicism?
<p>
Matt:
You might enjoy this tribute to McCain's latest brainstorm.
Jim
<p>
Investor's Business Daily
November 8, 2001
<p>
AMERICORPS IS A BOONDOGGLE FOR BUREAUCRATS
<p>
by JAMES BOVARD
<p>
John McCain is leading a push to expand AmeriCorps, the "national service"
program Bill Clinton established, by boosting the number of its members from
50,000 to 250,000. McCain says AmeriCorps members "have begun to glimpse the
glory of serving the cause of freedom." But it is difficult to
understand what government
make-work projects have to do with freedom.
<p>
McCain sees a bigger AmeriCorps as a cure for both "a deeper spiritual crisis
within our national culture" and "increased cynicism about our governmental
institutions." Yet many AmeriCorps projects directly foment taxpayer cynicism.
<p>
In Mississippi, AmeriCorps members have gone door to door to recruit people
for food stamps. In New Jersey, AmeriCorps members are recruiting
middle-class families to accept subsidized federal health insurance for
their children.
<p>
"Passing the laugh test" is not a requirement for AmeriCorps grantees. In
Buffalo, New York, AmeriCorps members helped run a program that gave
children $5 for each toy gun they brought in. In Lone Pine, Calif.,
AmeriCorps members put on a puppet show to warn four-year-olds of the
dangers of earthquakes. Elsewhere in California, AmeriCorps members
busied themselves by foisting unreliable "ultra-low-flush toilets" on
poor people.
<p>
McCain portrays AmeriCorps members as vital for boosting literacy. But some
grant applications for AmeriCorps literacy programs are comically
illiterate. The Rockin' Magicians Sports Association, a Harlem-based
program, sent in an
application that was full of sentence fragments and other errors that should
guarantee flunking a high school freshman English class. But their grammar
was close enough for government work: they got the grant.
<p>
Some AmeriCorps programs take welfare recipients off the streets and send
them into classrooms to be reading tutors. Never mind that welfare
recipients are among the least literate groups in America.
<p>
Expanding AmeriCorps would be difficult because many AmeriCorps programs
already are unable to attract enough recruits to fill available slots. In
Mississippi, state government employees are counted as AmeriCorps members as
long as they wear AmeriCorps hats and t-shirts and promise to spend a few
hours each week tutoring kids. While McCain portrays AmeriCorps
service as a font
of idealism, almost half of AmeriCorps members quit before completing
their term of service.
<p>
McCain's delusionary bombast about AmeriCorps is matched by the Bush
appointee who now runs the program, Leslie Lenkowsky. Lenkowsky is
salivating over the prospect of an expanded program, telling AmeriCorps
recruits last month that their "daily duties" will be "helping to thwart
terrorism itself ... Terrorists sow the seeds of distrust. You sow the seeds
of trust, at a time your nation badly needs them." Perhaps Lenkowsky
believes that nothing would intimidate Al Qaeda more than doubling the
number of puppet shows performed in America.
<p>
The General Accounting Office revealed last year that AmeriCorps relies on
Soviet-style accounting to gin up its claims. GAO noted that AmeriCorps
"generally reports the results of its programs and activities by quantifying
the amount of services AmeriCorps participants perform." GAO criticized
AmeriCorps for failing to make any effort to measure the actual impact of
its members' actions.
<p>
Many AmeriCorps programs achieve nothing more glorious than boosting the
number of government employees standing around with their hands in their
pockets.
<p>
Both McCain and Lenkowsky are far more enthusiastic about swelling
AmeriCorps than about fixing the program's faults. Most AmeriCorps spending
is handled by federally-funded state commissions. Inspector General reports
revealed that some state commissions are so slipshod and negligent that they
appear to be little more than pass-through operations to launder federal
money to local recipients.
<p>
If McCain is serious about reducing cynicism, he should take the
lead and propose
abolishing AmeriCorps. Alternatively, McCain should propose giving
AmeriCorps sole
responsibility for teaching all Americans to read. This would greatly
reduce the risk
that future taxpayers will be able to understand reports about how
their tax dollars are being
squandered.
<p>
James Bovard is the author of "Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion & Abuse of
Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years" (St. Martin's Press).
<p>
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