A near-universal assumption of the founding generation was the danger posed by a standing military force. Americans didnt trust the federal government that they were calling into existence with the Constitution. "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures." ~ Declaration of Independence The opponents of the Constitution, which history has mischaracterized as Anti-Federalists, had numerous reasons for rejecting the proposed Constitution. But Old Whig had another problem with federal control over the militia: Let us instance one thing arising from this right of organizing and governing the militia. The "martial law" enforced upon the colonies by "standing armies" explicitly denounced in the Declaration of Independence. Historians generally conclude that a full-blown coup detat was never a realistic possibility, but the incident did little to assuage contemporary concerns about the dangers posed by a standing army. (Extra bonus: The Army wouldnt need to pay for many of these opportunities, thanks to the generous educational benefits provided by the Post-9/11 G.I. Osvaldo Fuentes), Signing up for this newsletter means you agree to our data policy, 2020 deal between the United States and the Taliban, Mad Mitchs Tribal Law: Aden and the End of Empire, Agents of Influence: Britains Secret Intelligence War Against the IRA, U.S. Army (Photo by Spc. Standing Armies: The Constitutional Debate - Journal of the American 10 reasons US military strength remains essential | The Hill As militia they may be subjected to fines to any amount, levied in a military manner; they may be subjected to corporal punishments of the most disgraceful and humiliating kind; and to death itself, by the sentence of a court martial. POLICY BRIEF #54. The problem of the scientist's responsibility for war and peace has been analysed by R.W. The soldier will do what the president orders him to do. Such, I conceive, to be the best, the surest means of protection, which a free people can have when not actually engaged in war. Despite Akams portrayal of strategic defeat and inertia, the British Army has become more open and honest about its past failings in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Were armies to be raised whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we never should have been without them. Thus, U.S. presidents, the Pentagon, and the CIA have had no reservations about supporting, defending, and training foreign tyrannical regimes. The soldiery, who are generally composed of the dregs of the people, when disbanded, or unfit for military service, being equally unfit for any other employment, become extremely burthensome. The British Crown borrowed massively to finance the conflict (the war doubled British debt, and by the late 1760s, fully half of British tax pokiesaustralian.com revenue went solely to pay the interest on those liabilities); in an effort to boost its revenues, Parliament began to pursue other sources of income in the colonies more aggressively. Violence against the troops escalated and reached a strategic tipping point in 2007. Rather than the presence of the U.S. military guaranteeing peace and stability throughout the world, the presence of the U.S. military more often than not is the cause of war and instability around the globe. Thats the type of aggression I want from my commanders, Brig. Open disagreement and divergent views tend to be deeply discouraged within the Army, ranging all the way from its smallest units to the highest levels of the Army staff. The retelling of the past by conjuring up previous victories and putting a positive spin on defeats is vital to sustaining the life of tribal systems. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. Few, if any, of them is going to question the constitutionality of such orders at the height of a major crisis any more than they did the presidents order to invade Iraq. The actual effects are to lower the costs of war to those who would have it and to create a special-interest group of bureaucrats and military personnel who have a vested interest in advancing the war machine. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. As I wrote in a study of civil-military relations and strategy-making in Britains small wars, published in 2012, the withdrawal from Basra pointed to the impoverishment of Coalition strategy and was, in the end, nothing short of a strategic malaise that would have significant consequences for the Anglo-American special relationship and the United Kingdoms standing on the world stage. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. In reality, the blame for the British Armys failings in Iraq should be laid in equal measure at the doors of both the political and military hierarchies. With the full support of the Pentagon and the CIA, Pinochet used his troops, which faithfully and obediently followed his orders, to round up tens of thousands of people, torture them, abuse them, and execute and assassinate thousands of them. I didnt support the war. Our resources would have been exhausted on dangers which have never happened, instead of being reserved for what is really to take place. He founded The Principled Libertarian, in 2017 with the goal of spreading the ideas of liberty and helping to define what it means to be free. By a policy, somewhat similar to this, the Roman empire rose to the highest pitch of grandeur and magnificence. why is it dangerous to have a peacetime army? Expecting audacity among junior leaders in combat while micromanaging them in peacetime garrisons is a recipe for battlefield failure. Smoking, yelling, and torturing dudes who signed up to fight and possibly die for their country and comrades is not leadership. Now, however, Army senior leaders must actively reverse this trend. Virtually none of todays garrison procedures from auto safety checklists to high level-directed wear of reflective belts (beautifully mocked in the Duffel Blog) are consistent with this philosophy. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) has created Teachinghistory.org with the goal of making history content, teaching strategies, resources, and research accessible. Prior to the rise of the U.S. standing army, relations between natives and white settlers were relatively peaceful. The first two "Ps" are "prevention" of conflict and "protection" of . Foreign military bases and the stationing of troops abroad are for offensive military actions, not defensive ones. DDT and Silent Spring: Fifty years after - JMVH After the hell my Squad Leader's been giving me, I respect him less, not more. The inability to manage risk prudently and underwrite smart risk-taking by subordinate leaders deeply corrodes the trust that enables mission command the Armys warfighting philosophy built around decentralized command and control. The Resolution provides three provisions, called the "3 Ps.". Thats why the Constitution limits the federal government to a relative few enumerated powers. Without question, there are many positive aspects of the Army culture that should be maintained, including the Army Values, the Warrior Ethos, and an enduring outlook of mission first, troops always, get it done. However, other elements of its culture are becoming substantial liabilities as the Army faces an increasingly dynamic and challenging operating environment. Brutus, no. Studies tackle who joins the military and why, but their findings aren Anything that provokes such self-awareness is good for institutions, even tribal ones. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. If youre interested in learning more about the report, it will be available on the website of the Atlantic Council on September 21. Since 2001, deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan have effectively become the only valued duty assignment for rising leaders. Curiously, the British believed it was more akin to Palermo than Beirut organised crime rather than the al-Qaeda inspired violence in Iraqs central belt, according to Akam. Previous article by Laurence M. 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View more newsletters on our Subscriptions page. When asked about his own feelings about working with a potentially deadly pathogen, Woods says, "Fear and panic become just as dangerous as the pathogen itself.". Patrick Henry (17361799), in his June 5 speech in the Virginia ratifying convention against adopting the Constitution, likewise denigrated standing armies: A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; and how are you to punish them? If you don't want to take advantage of the military paying 100% of your tuition while on active duty and giving you upward of $50,000 through the GI Bill to use on active duty or after you get out, then the military is not for you. This culture grows out of the understandable need to limit disagreements in tactical units. Its not that white settlers always felt warm feelings toward native Americans (or vice versa). Military Leadership. Today, China's military has an increasingly impressive high-tech arsenal, but its ability to use these weapons and equipment remains unclear. If you want to take advantage of any of these military benefits or the numerous others the military has to offer, you need to talk with a recruiter. This is the more remarkable, because even when the distresses of the late war and the evident disaffection of many citizens of that description inflamed our passions, and when every person who was obliged to risk his own life must have been exasperated against such as on any account kept back from the common danger, yet even then, when outrage and violence might have been expected, the rights of conscience were held sacred. The quirks of tribalism are often reproduced by way of a reinvention of past exploits. Standing armies, after all, often do not only practice defense. Why the Founding Fathers Feared a Standing Army Elbridge Gerry, Fifth Vice President of the United States. Armies at war kill people and destroy things, and their leaders must master that chaotic and risky business in peacetime. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. More than is generally appreciated, the contact (between Indians and whites) was even friendly, or at least peaceful. The danger, of course, is some big crisis by which the president feels the need to protect national security by doing the types of things that those U.S.-supported tyrannical regimes have done to their citizenry. As Williams statement points out, when the president issues an order the soldier isnt going to reflect on whether the order is constitutional or not. But the militia, as it is still defined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. A well-regulated and well-armed militia under the control of the several states was viewed by the Anti-Federalists as being essential to secure the liberties of the people. But how many Americans give careful thought to what tyranny actually means and how it is carried out? The Library of Congress. Watch Professor Whitman Ridgway analyze the Bill of Rights in an Example of Historical Thinking. Frontiersmen could now call upon subsidized troops to do their fighting for them. Madisons use of the imagery of slavery points to the multiple meanings of that term in the 18th century. After the U.S. maintained a permanent army, however, things changed. This was sprayed on the inside walls of houses where the Anopheles mosquito rests after feeding. True, but except when troops are used to quell domestic violence, except when troops are participating in the war on drugs, except when troops are engaged in homeland security activities, except when troops are used in major public emergencies, except when troops are utilized in the fight against illegal immigration, and except when troops are employed in fighting terrorism. Will your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?, Henry St. George Tucker in Blackstones 1768 Commentaries on the Laws of England: Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction., Commonwealth of Virginia in 1788: that standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power., Pennsylvania Convention: as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil power., U.S. State Department website: Wrenching memories of the Old World lingered in the 13 original English colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America, giving rise to deep opposition to the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace. The Constitution and the Standing Army - CounterPunch.org For example, there was the Pinochet military dictatorship, which the U.S. national-security state helped install into power. Now, consider the following statement by former U.S. soldier Kayla Williams in an op-ed in last Fridays Guardian: A decade ago, I took part of the initial invasion of Iraq. The Fear of Standing Armies is the Root of the Second Amendment Who shall obey these orders? Akam pulls the curtain back further on the secret deals between British intelligence and the militants in Iraq. For these efforts to succeed, they must be led from the top while also engaging junior soldiers and leaders to identify roadblocks to reform and generate solutions. "The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. The military's 20-year retirement is an awesome benefit if you want to retire young. In the book, Akam reveals the overconfidence that flows from fighting units wedded to tradition working out which of these inheritances have value in the modern world and which do not. For Akam, mythmaking was already underway in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, with artists, journalists, and writers helping to convey a more glory-filled account of operations than was actually the case. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty, he argued. The VA is working to ensure that payments go out early next week, officials said. The Anti-Federalist who signed his 1788 essays in the Baltimore Maryland Gazette A Farmer gave historical examples in his second essay to show that both political and civil liberty have long since ceased to exist in almost all the countries that now employ standing troops, and that their slavery has in every instance been effected and maintained by the instrumentality and invariable obedience of these living machines to their chief. He mentions not only that in England a standing army is declared to be contrary to their constitution, and a militia the only natural and safe defense of a free people, but also that in America the constitutions of all the States positively forbid any standing troops at all, much less laws for them. For example: Massachusetts: And as in times of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature. Pennsylvania & North Carolina: And as standing armies in the time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up. Maryland & Delaware: That standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be raised or kept without consent of the legislature. A Farmer also mused in this essay: I was persuaded that the grave would have closed on my bones, before this question would be publicly proposed in America. Thats the national debate that is needed most of all. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. ~ Declaration of Independence The opponents of the Constitution, which history has mischaracterized as Anti-Federalists, had numerous reasons for rejecting the proposed Constitution. This had the effect of lowering the threshold for when settlers could justify resorting to violence against their Indian neighbors. An Economic Model of Indian-White Relations. Once established, a governments military, its bureaucrats and leaders, as well as laymen all face a different set of incentives. Last accessed 6 May, 2011. There's good news and bad news here. There are the decades of military and financial aid provided the brutal military dictatorship in Egypt under military strongman Hosni Mubarak, whose troops and intelligence forces worked closely with both the Pentagon and the CIA. Osvaldo Fuentes). Get the scoop on discounts and latest award-winning military content. Rather than Americas military heritage being one of how the military has defended the country from attack, it is instead one of invasion, destabilization, occupation, subjugation, oppression, death, and destruction. Education is very expensive, and $100,000 is actually a very conservative estimate for a four-year degree. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. All rights reserved. Thats because people dont want to confront what is a very discomforting thought: that a tyrannical regime uses its standing army to carry out and enforce its tyranny. What is intriguing about all these frequently chaotic episodes is the tendency of some units to embellish stories about their experiences on the Iraqi frontline. This accounting makes clear that military force was either used or contemplated by the United States in myriad settings and for various aims. Opinion | History Is Clear. America's Military Is Way Too Big
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