The Great Militia The militia is a "grass roots" tool of the people, designed to check the abuse of its own internal government, *and* to defend against the incursions of a foreign enemy. The struggles of war are best left to an army which is to be called up *only* in the event of war -- "called up," not "impressed." Standing armies have no place on American soil. The professional soldier is without purpose in a free society. He is, as John Hancock clearly pointed out, sometimes a man unfit to live in society; a man who has no liberty, and despises it in others; a man who, for an extra penny in his paycheck, would gladly alter his allegiance. We have seen the "professional" doing his work on our citizens, and preparing for assault in our cities. Besides the assaults at Waco and Ruby Ridge, we have all read the accounts of soldiers training in our cities. It must be clear from the beginning that the fine young men of our history, and the outstanding officers who have been called up during our conflicts with foreign nations, have been the finest, noblest, best disciplined in the history of the world's defense of freedom. We are now at odds with our history. Standing armies are training to obey the word to act against the neighbors of their youth. Standing armies *have no place* on American soil! "But," answers Hancock against the obvious question, "since standing armies are so hurtful to a state, perhaps my countrymen may demand some substitute, some other means of rendering us secure against the incursions of a foreign enemy." Our military strength should be increased, and our military budget should be slashed. Our defense should be trebled, and our professional soldiers cut by thirds thrice. We should be prepared to take on the world, and not venture from our shores to do so. Hancock continues: "But can you be one moment at a loss? Will not a well disciplined militia afford you ample security against foreign foes? We want not courage; it is discipline alone in which we are exceeded by the most formidable troops that ever trod the earth." *That*, my friends, is why *you* are necessary in the militia; and by reason, by intuition, and by God, you *are* in the militia! The militia is not a few groups of local organization. That is unnatural. You cannot call up the militia of Maine to defend your California home, and when the force directed against you is the army of the federal government, or one of its fingers, you can hardly call upon the hand of the federal government to protect you! Do you somehow think that the commander in chief is immune from the abuse of power? Rather than replacing the local militia, the growth of the federal army requires the increase in the strength of the local militia. The local militia is the only defense against the tyranny of a standing army. Josiah Quincy wrote in 1774, that standing armies are composed of men "whose interest and very existence, depend on an abuse of their power." Do you understand? Is that clear? "Booty and blind submission is the science of the camp." The solution? Quincy sounds much like Hancock: "No free government was ever founded or ever preserved its liberty without uniting the characters of the citizen and the soldier in those destined for the defense of the state. The sword should never be in the hands of any, but those who have an interest in the safety of the community, who fight for their religion and their offspring; -- and repel invaders that they may return to their private affairs, and the enjoyment of freedom and good order. Such are a well regulated militia composed of the freeholders, citizen and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve their property as individuals, and their rights as freemen." "A well regulated militia:" a standing army? God forbid! They are naturally at odds with one another! Joseph Warren spoke passionately against the professional soldier among the people. A great statesman, he saw that the professional soldiery are "taught to consider arms as the only arbiters by which every dispute is to be decided between contending states; -- they are instructed implicitly to obey their commanders, without enquiring into the justice of the cause they are engaged to support; hence it is, that they are ever to be dreaded as the ready engines of tyranny and oppression. And it is too observable that they are prone to introduce the same mode of decision in the disputes of individuals, and from thence have often arisen great animosities between them and the inhabitants, who, whilst in a naked, defenseless state, are frequently insulted and abused by an armed soldiery." Quincy: "An invasion and conquest by mere strangers and foreigners are neither so formidable or disgraceful as the establishment of a standing army under color of the municipal law of the land." Are you swept up by the current foment against the local militias? Forgive the brashness of the question, but . . . Are you stupid? I suspect not. You have probably assumed the best and most noble of our government. Let me close by adding yet another figure from our nation's great and formative history, Benjamin Rush. He said, in 1787: "the American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the drama is closed." He was speaking then of the weakness of our nation. I am writing now of the weakness of our nation also. "Hear her proclaiming, in sighs and groans, in her governments, in her finances, in her trade, in her manufactures, in her morals and in her manners," (do you hear them?) "'The Revolution is not over.'" If we are to remain free, it never will be. God bless the militia. Dave Delany --------------------------------------------------------------------------- <>< Dave Delany's Freedom House PO Box 212 Conklin NY 13748 For the real thing, send a donation! Get the graphics, the contributing writers, and the proper formatting! $20 suggested for one year. For an on line subscription, send the message "subscribe" freedomh@spectra.net. 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