As Allahpundit noted yesterday on the news that librarians are going to start being requisitioned into the service of promoting ObamaCare on behalf of the woefully unprepared federal government, a logical conclusion would be that all manner government employees can be enlisted to help with whatever tasks the ruling administration has on their main agenda, as a sort of resource pool that can be directed at the administration’s discretion. So, hey — why don’t we just start conscripting public school children while we’re at it?

It seems that California never tires of leading the righteous and progressive charge on totally awesome new ideas for more top-down bureaucracy, and they are of course the ones trying out this bold and innovative messaging strategy. The Los Angeles school system, apparently, is planning to use a state grant program to promote ObamaCare, part of which will go toward teaching students to become “messengers” for the law:

The Heartland Institute first reported on the grant, one of $37 million in state grants announced in May by Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange. Of that, $990,000 was awarded to The Los Angeles Unified School District. A brief synopsis of the grant says it would be used for “outreach calls” to families and “adult-student class presentations.” But it also states as an objective: “Teens trained to be messengers to family members.” … A spokesman for the district also told the institute that teens will be part of a “pilot” program to see if they can be trained to “deliver outreach and limited education to family and friends in and around their homes.”

I remember volunteering at a polling place on election day to fulfill a required civics assignment back when I was in middle school — in my county, I believe it was a way the county government worked with public schools to make sure polling places had enough volunteers to keep the place staffed, and give kids a little civic experience at the same time — but this just took that to a whole new level. Here’s your homework for tonight, kids: Educate your parents and neighbors all about the amazing benefits of ObamaCare, because it’s your civic duty!

But, why not, right? These are the future young people with which ObamaCare is going to stick outsized premiums for the sake of subsidizing the entire system and the inherently more expensive risk pools it creates, so let’s get them to help the state and federal governments sell the thing! …For some strange reason that I can’t quite pin down, the word “cannibalization” springs to mind.