| Author | Message | ||
     Pkforbes87 |
I've never fully understood this particular section of the Constitution. What was its original intent? I assume that the "well regulated militia" from the second amendment was what today would be considered a national guard/reserve force. Was this considered adequate when the Constitution was written, because its only purpose would be the defense of U.S. soil, not policing the world and being forward deployed? Did the authors of the Constitution ever intend to maintain an Active Duty land-based military force? "To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;" | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
To define the specific and limited powers of the Federal government. If it's not one of the 18 enumerated powers under Article 1, Section 8, it is a power reserved to the individual states under the Tenth Amendment. The ONLY way to grant the Federal government additional powers is via Constitutional amendment. The states must release that power to the Federal government. The dealers NEVER intended any of the three branches to have the power to grant additional powers to the Federal government. | ||
| Sifo |
Here's some of my understanding... The founders certainly recognized the need to protect the nation. They also understood that a militia couldn't be expected to have the most modern of weapons. In that day it was the navies that made super powers. Clearly they wanted us to have the most advanced defenses we could afford. At the same time they also knew the temptations of having a standing army. A strong standing army makes lots of sense when you are in times of conflict. During times of peace, the people tend to not want to pay to support a large standing army. The temptation for those in power then becomes to look for things to do with the large army when not involved in large conflicts that are related to actually defending our soil. The compromise was to be a militia that owned their own arms and did some training locally. A militia is far less likely to jump into unnecessary conflicts. See the Michigan Militia for a modern example of this. Since that time we have built the best standing army the world has known. We are also involved in numerous conflicts around the globe virtually all the time. This is one of the things the founders looked to avoid while still providing security for our borders. It's a tough balance to get right. The founders put much thought and debate into these issues though. What I've provided is at best a quick review of the readers digest headline version. Hope it answers some of your question though. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
A militia was a volunteer call to arms of the common citizen that was to protect their land, town, parish because the FEDERAL government could not afford to put each man into forced conscripted service and on pay roll - nor do I believe the framers ever intended such a notion of an entire conscripted populace that was on the dole and teet from the Capital... unlike the contemporaries It is only recently that the 'militia' has come to mean right wing extremist that are armed and ready to take on the government and overthrow it in a conspiracy, that lately is all tied to race. (though they have been around for decades - and indeed were more than present under Bush 1 and II) | ||
| Swampy |
My touch with celebrity, my best friend in the whole world was the State Commander of the Michigan Militia. Clint Dare was one of the kindest, gentlest most respectful men I have ever known. He was also one of the most knowledgeable men I have ever known. I always found it strange that SPLC and many others thought he was a dangerous man. I asked him about this and he said his only weapon was what he knew and what he told people. Knowledge. I remember one time while sitting in a court house in Lansing the city prosecutor came walking down the hallway, recognized him and started yelling and screaming at him as he was passing by. I was shocked. Clint was just sitting there, talking with people about their cases and this suit just freaks out on him. I asked him what just happened and he said they can't handle the truth about what is happening in their own courtrooms. I used to go with him to alot of his court proceedings and I have seen his case assigned to retired judges, seeing no flags being flown in the court room to court officers going for their guns while he was adressing the court. It was always great entertainment and very educational. Funny thing was after the city prosecutor went into private practice he used to call Clint to consult with Clint. Clint was not a proponent for government overthrow, was not a racist, believed in people and was just the best friend anybody could ever have. The picture below was the last ride we had together when we took a two day trip to pick up his new puppy Buella. Buella joined the 100 Mile Per Hour Club before her little paws ever touched green grass.  |
