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201a.html WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! USA Freedom Corps Blasted by Libertarians, Taxpayer Group By Matt Pyeatt CNSNews.com Staff Writer February 01, 2002 (CNSNews.com) - President Bush's call for each American to donate two years or 4,000 hours to community service is "incompatible" with the country's tradition of freedom and individualism, according to the Ayn Rand Institute, one of several organizations to come out against the idea introduced by the president Tuesday in his State of the Union address. "If you aren't sure how to help, I've got a good place to start," Bush told Americans Tuesday. "To sustain and extend the best that has emerged in America, I invite you to join the new USA Freedom Corps." The president then took his $560 million plan on the road, visiting Winston Salem, N.C. Wednesday, Daytona Beach, Fla. and Atlanta, Ga. Thursday. He repeated the telephone number - 1-877-USA-CORPS - of the organization that already has a White House office even if Congress hasn't yet approved its funding. Several groups say the program would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. "The USA Freedom Corps is big-government Clintonism with a fresh coat of red, white and blue paint," said Steve Dasbach, executive director for the Libertarian Party. "If Republicans really believed what they say, it would be the kind of pointless program they would abolish - not create. "The last thing you want to do with such a noble gesture is to corrupt it by turning it into another wasteful, inefficient and politicized government program. To do so is not just an affront to the 90 million people who already volunteer without a government paycheck - it's an affront to the cooperative, unselfish, patriotic ideals of America," Dasbach said. The National Taxpayers Union is also critical of the idea. "Although President Bush delivered a loud and clear message on the need to fund the war on terror, his domestic agenda actually calls for even more spending," Tom McClusky, senior policy analyst for the NTU said. McClusky called Bush's new proposal a re-tread of the Clinton administration's AmeriCorps program, but noted that President Clinton only called for $336 million to fund "volunteer" programs in his last State of the Union address while Bush asked for $560 million for fiscal year 2003. McClusky said Bush's plan also reminds him of the budget philosophy of the late 1960s, which, he said, produced "a decade of high tax burdens, deficits and general economic misery." "Today, taxpayers and policymakers alike may need to weigh the costs and benefits of both domestic and defense spending proposals in order to avoid falling into the same mindset," McClusky said. Alex Epstein, a writer for the Ayn Rand Institute, said USA Freedom Corps troubles him for another reason. "American individualism and freedom are incompatible with the notion that people are servants who owe their lives - or any portion of them - to the state or their neighbors," Epstein said. "The collectivist belief in the supremacy of the group over the individual is the foundation of the national-service ideology, which regards the individual as a servant to the nation. Every totalitarian society in history has rested on the premise of man's alleged duty to the state," he said. The Bush administration has also set up a website, the toll-free number and a flashy new red, white and blue logo for the program. "If people want to fight terror, do something kind for a neighbor," Bush said in North Carolina. "Love somebody. Mentor a child. Stand up to evil with acts of goodness and kindness." *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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