ServiceNation

If you don’t know what ServiceNation is, don’t worry, you will soon and so will all of America.  My interest in the I.O.U.S.A. documentary led me to read this little post on the LRC blog.  What they are suggesting is that the same people behind creating and sponsoring I.O.U.S.A also happen to be part of this up and coming entity called ServiceNation.  Think of ServiceNation as a huge number of non-profits gathered under one umbrella but with the purpose of encouraging kids to serve their nation in some compacity by making it mandatory.  My major concern with this is to make volunteering, mandatory.  It is a contradiction, pure and simple, so don’t let them fool by telling you that you have a “choice” in where you volunteer.  If we look to history to find other countries who have demanded national service, you’ll find they include Nazi Germany as well as Communist Russia and China. 

I am all for service, let’s just keep it voluntary.  I’m all for educating America about national and personal financial responsibility, but let’s not use it as a vehicle for ultra wealthy, banking and political classes to gain more control and wealth. 

Here is a little extra detail on those involved in the ServiceNation Leadership Council.  I’m amazed at the number of associations there are to 2008 presidential contenders as well as connections with many other interests including, Wall Street, banking, oil and military. 

• Joshua Beckenstien, Managing Director, Bain Capital – Bain Capital was founded by Mitt Romney
• Neil Bush – Of the famous Bush family with older George W. as president and son of former President George H. W. Bush.  Strong business ties with current Russian fugitive and oligarch Boris Berezovkly, part of the Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980’s, profiting from the sale of U.S. ports to Dubai, and overall has led a typical charmed life of a Bush despite repeated embarasments and failures.  Co-founder of The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue along with then Cardinal Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI. 
• Michael Bloomberg– NYC Mayor, the name Bloomberg is synonymous with Wall Street, multi-billionaire, donated tens of millions to the Carnegie Corporation who is a grant underwriter for ServiceNation. 
• William Cohen – Former Secretary of Defense and groomsman at John McCain’s second marriage
• Janet Langhart Cohen, Author; Founder, Citizen Patriot Organization (CPO) – married to William Cohen, CPO awarded John McCain its CPO Award. 
• Al From– Founder and current CEO of Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).  The DLC advocates for a more “progressive” Democrat Party and has supported No Child Left Behind, NAFTA, CAFTA and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  The DLC’s American Dream Initiative chair is Hillary Clinton.  DLC associated Will Marshall is a PNAC signatory.  Read more DLC criticisms here
• David Gergen– presidential advisor for 4 presidents, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.  A CFR memeber and regular attendee at Bohemian Grove
• Michael Gerson, Columnist, Washington Post – Former Bush speech writer credited with “Axis of Evil” and “smoking gun/mushroom cloud”
• Gary Hart– CFR, groomsman at John McCain’s second marriage and encouraged George W. Bush to fulfill, just after 9/11, what his father G.H.W. Bush called for, “a new world order” and Partnership of a Secure America (PSA) advisory board
• Lee Hamilton– former congressman, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, known for covering Reagan and G.H.W. Bush as chair of the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran by deciding not to investigate them, on advisory boards for CIA, the U.S. Army, Homeland Security and Partnership of a Secure America (PSA)
• Mike Huckabee– former Governor of Arkansas, 2008 Presidential candidate (Republican)
• Jim Leach, Former Congressman; John L. Weinberg Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University – Best known for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which allows commercial and investment banks to consolidate and has been criticized as contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis.  Phil Gramm, one of the other co-sponsors of this Act, was also an economic advidor to John McCain.
• Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator – board member for Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dell and General Electric, former CIA spy, Partnership of a Secure America (PSA) advisory board, Aspen Strategy Group
• Peter G. Peterson– multi-billionaire, investment banker, CFR chairman from 1985 to 2007, chairman and founder of the Peterson Institute whose directors come from central banks, international banks, the Fed, Treasury and foreign governments, Trustee of the Rockefeller family’s Japan Society and the Museum of Modern Art, bought the rights to I.O.U.S.A and is spending millions to help promote U.S.’s economic, environmental and social problems
• Rob Portman – former congressman, former OMB director, considered in the running as V.P pick for John McCain
• Susan Rice, Foreign Policy Advisor, Obama for America – former governor of the Federal Reserve System, CFR, Aspen Strategy Group
• Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico – 2008 presidential candidate (Democrat), former Secretary of Energy, former U.N. Ambassador, CFR
• David Evans Shaw, Managing Partner, Black Point Group – CFR member and husband of actress Glenn Close who is also on the ServiceNation Leadership Council
• David Walker, President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation – former Comptroller General of the United States and ran the Government Accountability Office (GAO), featured in the film I.O.U.S.A.