It’s kind of scary thinking about the future of these programs, especially considering that at the time of this post, at least three front-running GOP candidates (Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul) haven't mentioned service learning on their campaign sites. Mike Huckabee, a freak Republican that supports arts education, uses this to his advantage by bragging to be the only GOP candidate so far to sign that he will expand national service if elected. (Note that ALL the Democrat candidates have signed this pledge, so that point is just kind of sad.)
Huckabee believes that arts education encourages positive behavior, including involvement in service learning. Huckabee shows his own love for music and the arts by playing bass guitar in his band, Capitol Offense. “Music and the arts are not extraneous, extra-curricular, or expendable,” he insists on his campaign site. “I want to provide every child with these ‘Weapons of Mass Instruction.’”
I might vote for him just because he makes bad puns.
- Catherine Cai|VOX Staff
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4 comments:
Huckabee is out front of his party showing support for national service. In this election there is a real opportunity to make national service bi-partisan issue. Of the candidates who have won republican primaries thus far they all have histories of supporting national service. Huckabee signed the ServeNext.org pledge. McCain has made public statements calling for doubling AmeriCorps and previously introduced bipartisan legislation to expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 members. Romney is the former board chair of CityYear.org, one of the largest national service programs. Join the campaign to expand national service at http://servenext.org/
But Rudy hates the terrorists!
Huckabee is cool and all for supporting arts education, but as far as I'm concerned his politics are still very, very conservative. As long as the Democrat candidates still support arts education, I'll be fine.
"Capitol Offense" makes me think of Capitol Punishment. Scary? : )
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