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President Barack Obama says this weekend's 50th anniversary commemoration of historic civil rights marches is as much about stirring young people to change as about honoring yesterday's legends, calling the push for "a fair and more just criminal justice system" part of the modern struggle.

Obama is leading Saturday's tribute in Selma, Alabama, where where 50 years ago police beat scores of people who were marching from Selma to Montgomery to protest their lack of voting rights. The marches helped lead to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"Selma is not just about commemorating the past, it's about honoring the legends who helped change this country through your actions today, in the here and now," Obama said at a town hall meeting at South Carolina's Benedict College. "Selma is now."

In a radio interview broadcast earlier Friday, Obama said improving civil rights and liberties with police is an area that "requires collective action and mobilization" a half-century after an earlier generation of activists changed the nation. He made his first remarks about this week's Justice Department report of racial bias in Ferguson, which found officers routinely discriminated against blacks by using excessive force.

"I don't think that is typical of what happens across the country, but it's not an isolated incident," Obama said in an interview that aired Friday on The Joe Madison Radio Show on Sirius XM radio's Urban View channel.

"I think that there are circumstances in which trust between communities and law enforcement have broken down, and individuals or entire departments may not have the training or the accountability to make sure that they're protecting and serving all people and not just some," Obama said.

Obama told students at Benedict College that Selma was possible because of the young people who decided to act. He noted that one of the most famous leaders of the Selma march -- now Georgia Rep. John Lewis -- was just 23 years old at the time.

"It was young people who stubbornly insisted on justice, stubbornly refused to accept the world as it is that transformed not just the country but transformed the world," Obama said.

The visit was Obama's first to South Carolina as president. South Dakota and Utah are the only states he has not traveled to while in office.

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Obama: Selma anniversary is about young people

President Obamas 2016 proposed budget claims, among other goals, to help cut inefficient spending, reform the broken tax code, and to make sure everyone pays their fair share. These goals sound like really nobleobjectives Im all about limiting the size of government bycutting spending, revoking/refining the tax code, and I certainly dont mind paying my fair share as long as its being used wisely unfortunately the Presidents proposed budget falls woefully short and may actually do more harm than good when it comes to saving for retirement.

Taking a page out of the European socialism playbook, Obamas budget aims to remove some personal freedoms that we as Americans enjoy and have grown accustomed to. I wonder, in this day and age,are our founding fathers ideals antiquated so much so thatthis is how we should expect a modern society toact? To slowly turn over our hard-fought freedoms in return for a promise that politicians will protect us? That the government is the most efficient mechanism to spread wealth and raise the standard of living for all Americans?

I say nobecause history has proven thatthis is a slippery slope. Im a huge history buff and from my readingany civilization in World history that began to give up their personal freedoms and control to the ruling class of the time (Kings, Rulers, & in our case Washington D.C.) in the hopes of a more secure future, did so attheir own peril.

So, while the Presidents proposals are simply that, proposals, they speak to a deeper and potentially dangerous undercurrent that is being woven into our political and cultural consciousness. There are 3 specific provisions within Obamas budget proposal that highlightthe overarching goal of clawing backpersonal freedoms by limiting wealth accumulation and passing offamily legacies.

3 Attacks On Successful Savers

1) Limit OnRetirement Savings- the President proposes that if youve saved $3.4 million in retirement plans you have enough. If youve been successful, saved diligently, and invested wisely, you will be ineligible to contribute any more to your retirement plans, in effect, your retirement savings are capped. So does this mean that the IRS will be tasked with theresponsibility of enforcing yet another law, and creating more bureaucracy? Its fair to say that for many, $3.4 million is plenty to live on for the rest of your life, but what right does the Government have to say how much is too much? By capping the maximum that youre allowed to save in retirement plans, how exactly does that benefit Americans?

2) Forced Distributions on Roth IRAs amongthe many benefits of Roth IRAs is that they grow tax-free, are not taxed when you withdraw them, and RMDs (Require Minimum Distributions) are not required when you turn 70 1/2 like traditional IRAs. Obama is proposing that RMDs become required on Roth IRAs, so that when you turn 70 1/2 you will be forced to take distributions every year for the rest of your life. There isnt an economic benefit whatsoever for the Government to force RMDs on Roths, but if you read between the lines it appears that the President wishes to limit how much wealth is passed from one generation to the next, slowly eroding the value of the Roth for future generations. Should this proposal become law, it will actually make existing Roths more appealing because theres a good chance the current IRA rules will begrandfathered in, so perhaps you should take a second look at converting your IRA to Roth.

3) Destroying The Stretch under current IRS code, if your retirement accounts are designated properly, you may pass your IRAs and the like onto your spouse, then your children, and then grandchildren, thereby stretching the IRA over a few generations. The stretch IRA is a great way to spread the tax bill over a long period of time and keep more of your hard-earned money in your family where it was earnedand this is exactly what the President wants to change. His proposal includes a provision that any non-spouse beneficiary (like your children and loved ones) will be forced to pay income tax on and withdraw the entire balance of their inherited retirement account over a 5 year period. So, if you have a $500,000 IRA that you leave to your son or daughter they would be hit with a tax bill on $100,000 every year over 5 years, this is above and beyond the normal income taxes they pay and will likely push them into a higher tax bracket.

Obamasbudget claims to create a level and fair playing field for retirement savers, but is it the governments role to determine what is fair?Have our rights as Americans changed from Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Limited Happiness as Defined by the U.S. Government?

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Obama Launches Attack On Successful Savers

The Obama administration moved Monday to reverse a federal judges order in Texas that blocked a White House plan to shield up to 5 million immigrants from deportation.

In a court filing in Brownsville, Texas, the government urged U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen to lift his own injunction and allow President Obamas immigration initiatives to proceed. Those initiatives would offer immigrants in the country illegally the chance to apply for a three-year permit to stay and work on U.S. soil if they met certain criteria.

Leaving the injunction in place would work immense harm to the public interest by undermining efforts to encourage illegal aliens with significant ties to the community and no serious criminal record to come out of the shadows and to request the ability to work legally, the motion says.

The administration argued that Texas and 25 other states that sued the government had no legal standing to interfere in federal enforcement of immigration law.

Hanens ruling already has disrupted the governments effort to prepare for an expected onslaught of applications. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service had leased an office center in northern Virginia, and asked contractors to submit bids to supply records services by Monday.

That contract was canceled Friday, as the program ground to a halt.

Obama had invoked his executive authority when he announced the deportation waiver program in November, saying he was tired of waiting for Congress to reform the immigration system.

The 26 states challenged Obamas actions in court. Last week, hours before the application process was scheduled to start, Hanen issued an injunction that barred implementation of the programs, agreeing with the states that Obama had outstripped his constitutional powers.

The administration asked Hanen to stay his own order while the government appealed his ruling.

The largest part of the program, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, would protect an estimated 4 million immigrants from deportation if they can prove they have lived in the U.S. for five years, or are parents of citizens or legal residents. Applicants with serious criminal records are not eligible.

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Obama administration seeks to block judge's immigration ruling

Designating the country's newest national monuments, President Barack Obama said Thursday that protecting places of natural beauty and historic significance is a truly American ideal.

Obama used the powers of the presidency to designate the Pullman National Monument in his hometown. The historic South Side neighborhood is where African-American railroad workers won a significant labor agreement in the 1930s that Obama said led to such protections as the 40-hour work week.

"So this site is at the heart of what would become America's labor movement," he said.

Pullman workers also played a role in the rise of the black middle class.

Obama began his career as a community organizer nearby and said returning to designate the monument "brings back a lot of good memories."

Before leaving Washington, Obama signed a proclamation in the Oval Office designating the Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado, a 21,000-acre site along the Arkansas River popular for whitewater rafting. In Chicago, he also announced designation of the Honouliuli National Monument in Hawaii, the site of an internment camp where Japanese-American citizens and prisoners of war were held during World War II.

"Conservation is a truly American ideal," Obama said. "The naturalists and industrialists and politicians who dreamt up our system of public lands and waters did so in the hope that by keeping these places, these special places in trust, places of incomparable beauty, places where our history was written, then future generations would value those places the same way as we do."

Obama also announced a new program to provide fourth-graders and their families with free admission to national parks for a year.

The Pullman designation honors the neighborhood built by industrialist George Pullman in the 19th century for workers to manufacture luxurious railroad sleeping cars. The 203-acre Pullman site includes factories and buildings associated with the Pullman Palace Car Company, which was founded in 1867 and employed thousands of workers to construct and provide service on railroad cars. While the company employed a mostly white workforce to manufacture railroad passenger cars, it also hired former slaves to serve as porters, waiters and maids on its iconic sleeping cars.

The railroad industry -- Pullman in particular -- was one of the largest employers of African-Americans in the United States by the early 1900s. Pullman workers played a major role in the rise of the black middle class and, through a labor agreement won by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, they helped launch the civil rights movement of the 20th century, the White House said.

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Obama designates new national monuments

President Obama led the ceremony Saturday marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma, Ala., "Bloody Sunday" march, hailing the men and women who fought for civil rights in the 1960s but also declaring that more work needs to be done for race relations in the United States.

There are places, and moments in America, where this nations destiny has been decided," the president said. "Selma is such a place."

He spoke from the Edmund Pettus Bridge on which police, using clubs and tear gas, attacked civil rights demonstrators on March 7, 1965. The event is considered a watershed moment in the civil rights movement and helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

In one afternoon 50 years ago, so much of our turbulent history -- the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and the dream of a Baptist preacher -- met on this bridge, Obama said, turning to Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who was present at the march. It is a rare honor in this life to follow one of your heroes.And John Lewis is one of my heroes.

Obama was joined by a delegation that included the first family, former President George W. Bush and roughly 100 members of Congress, including Lewis, who was seriously injured in the march. Members of the group, which also included former first lady Laura Bush, joined hands on stage after the president's speech.

Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, then walked about a third of the way across the bridge, accompanied by Lewis, who has given fellow lawmakers countless tours of this scene. Bush, his wife and scores of others came with them before a larger crowd followed.

"We have come to Selma to be reminded that we have do the work that justice and equality calls us to do," Lewis said.

Tens of thousands of others also attended the event. Congressional Republican leaders were absent from the event, but House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio released a statement.

"Today, 50 years after the Selma to Montgomery marches began, the House honors the brave foot soldiers who risked their lives to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans," Boehner said.

Selma still struggles to overcome its legacy.

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Obama honors civil rights heroes in Selma - VIDEO: Obama honors civil rights heroes - JUAN WILLIAMS: 50 years after ...