MILITIAS: YOUR BEST DEFENSE AGAINST FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC ENEMIES -- by Jim
Kerr

November 6, 2002
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Today's A.L.E.R.T. (America Law Education Rights & Taxation):

November 05, 2002

Foreword from Gordon Phillips, Founder of INFORM AMERICA! --

Homeschoolers Take Note (and please alert Tom Ridge): The state Militias
have always been, and remain to this day, our best defense of 'homeland
security'. Of course, unvarnished historical truths such as this (as
detailed in today's fine article to follow) are scrupulously not taught in
regional government-funded, outcome-based, school-to-work,
social-conditioning-and-cultural-homogenization centers (which some still
call the 'public schools').

That calculated omission is your cue to pay close attention.

And please do your civic duty (your alternative to 'AmeriCorps'). Upon
completion of today's politically incorrect studies, as you exit the
peaceful, educationally conducive and Second Amendment-friendly atmosphere
of your loving (and well-armed) home to enjoy an afternoon game of soccer
with your multiply body-pierced and otherwise cosmetically mutilated peers
upon their supervised early afternoon release from daily incarceration in
one of the aforementioned, certified 100% vulnerable, gun-free 'Dewey
Camp' domestic terrorism target practice zones, please be sure to inform
them that Jim Kerr, ever armed with the facts, has nailed it again.

###

MILITIAS: YOUR BEST DEFENSE AGAINST FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC ENEMIES -- by Jim
Kerr, staff paralegal at the Save-A-Patriot Fellowship.

We are truly a 'Nation under God,' if for no other reason that the form of
government we have (a Republic), is based upon principles that come right
out of the Bible; and, of course, Congress has declared the Bible to be
the Word of God. [See Public Law 97-280, 96 Stat. 1211 below] When we
apply these basic principles on a National scale, a condition called
'liberty' exists, whereby we enjoy all the rights that the Creator has
endowed us with.

In this installment of our series about the draft, we will examine
national defense, as provided for by the Framers, and how that system has
been altered over the years. However, it will be necessary to begin by
comparing and contrasting libertarian government with imperial government.
Having established this foundation, we will then explain the differences
between militias and standing armies; show that the Founders and Framers
intended for militias to protect us against foreign and domestic enemies,
so as to avoid the problems standing armies create; and finally, we will
examine the piecemeal process whereby militias were replaced by standing
armies.

Libertarian Government vs. Imperial Government

There are basically only two kinds of government structures: imperial and
libertarian. The Imperial model, where a ruler, be he a king, emperor,
president, etc., is the sovereign, and governmental power descends from
the top, down. The people are mere subjects; and the subjects frequently
feel a sense of security, believing they are protected by the ruler, who
is the sovereign. Rights are deemed privileges granted (or denied) by the
sovereign. This kind of government is most common throughout history,
primarily because it provides an efficient means of plundering the
subjects.

The libertarian model is grassroots in nature, where governmental power
descends from the bottom up. The people are the sovereign, and the rulers
are mere servants of the people. The people have rights that originate
from the Creator, and the government is instituted to protect these
rights, which include life, liberty, and the right to own property. In
this system, nobody is plundered. For a fuller analysis of this important
principle, you can order the Reasonable Action Newsletter # 241: Sheriffs,
Counties, and our Republican Form of Government.

Militias And Standing Armies

Organized national defense takes the form of either a standing army or a
militia. Militias are based upon the Biblical, grassroots premise of rule
from the bottom, up, and exist in truly libertarian nations. Militiamen
collectively defend their rights, and they plunder nobody; not even
foreigners. Insofar as foreign nations go, they mind their own business.

Conversely, standing armies are imperial in character. While they may
sometimes be used to protect life and property, history teaches us that
they are more frequently used to assert the will of a sovereign (e.g.,
king, president, secretary general, etc) over foreigners. Sometimes,
standing armies are used to oppress their own kinsmen, as was the case
with the Waco Massacre.

The Founders and Framers understood what and who the militia were. As
George Mason, in the debates in the convention of the Commonwealth of
Virginia (June 14, 1788) stated: 'Who are the militia? They consist now of
the whole people....' '[A] militia, when properly formed, are in fact the
people themselves....' [Ascribed to Richard Henry Lee.] 'Who are these
militia? are they not ourselves.' [Letter from Tench Coxe to the
Pennsylvania Gazette (Feb. 20, 1778)] The militia is composed of the
people generally possessed of arms which they know how to use; and a
standing army is some formal military group separate and distinct from the
people at large.

Madison also appreciated the value of militias, as is reflected in his
Federalist No. 46 where he argued that the power of Congress under the
proposed constitution '[t]o raise and support Armies' (art. 1, § 8, cl.12)
posed no threat to liberty because any such army, if misused, 'would be
opposed [by] a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with
arms in their hands' and then noting 'the advantage of being armed, which
the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation,' in
contrast to 'the several kingdoms of Europe' where 'the governments are
afraid to trust the people with arms.'

The Federalist Papers at 299 (Rossiter, New American Library). Plainly,
Madison saw an armed people as a foundation of the militia which would
provide security for a 'free' state, one which, like America but unlike
the 'kingdoms of Europe,' was not afraid to trust its people to have their
own arms. The militia consisted of the people bearing their own arms when
called to active service, arms which they kept and hence knew how to use.
If the people were disarmed there could be no militia (well-regulated or
otherwise) as it was then understood. That expresses the proper
understanding of the relationship between the Second Amendment's preamble
and its substantive guarantee.

Justice Joseph Story, in his highly esteemed Commentaries on the
Constitution (1833) described the militia in this manner:

'The militia is the natural defense of a free country against foreign
invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by
rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large
military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from
the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means
which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the
government, or trample the rights of the people. The right of a citizen to
keep and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the
liberties of the republic, since it offers a strong moral check against
the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers, and will generally, even if
these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist
and triumph over them.'

Establishment Of The Militia

Being informed of the sentiments of the day, we can see why the Articles
of Confederation prescribed that 'every State shall always keep up a well
regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and
shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due
number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms,
ammunition and camp equipage.'

Later, in the Constitution, we find:

Art. 1 Section 8, Clause 15-16. [Congress shall have the power] 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;

..and...

Amendment II. Right To Bear Arms

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

A unique characteristic of the 2nd Amendment is the inclusion of an
opening clause which sets out its purpose. This Amendment prohibits the
federal government from infringing upon our God-given right to keep and
bear arms; and that this is necessary for our collective right to defend
ourselves.

Pursuant to the Constitutional provisions relating to militias, Congress
passed the Militia Acts of 1792 (the first, passed May 2, 1792, providing
for the authority of the President to call out the Militia; and the
second, passed May 8, 1792, providing federal standards for the
organization of the Militia).

The Militia Act of 1792, enacted May 8, 1792, defined the militia as 'each
and every free able-bodied white male citizen ... who is or shall be of
age eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years ...' and
required each to 'provide himself with a good musket ... or with a good
rifle...' 1 Stat. 271 (1792).

This remained law for 111 years, into the 20th century, until it was
repealed in 1903 with passage of the 'Dick Act,' which created the
National Guard.

After the Spanish-American war of 1898 federal defense policymakers,
assisted by a group of retired professional military officers, began to
lobby for changing the state militia system. Secretary of War Elihu Root
initiated the program of reorganization in the military establishment,
resulting in the passage of The Dick Act in 1903. The Dick Act signified
the beginning of the demise of the old, essentially state-controlled,
system. The Act required the states to submit to numerous federal
requirements regarding the training, housing, and equipping of the state
militias. The Dick Act was the first in a series of moves by Congress,
that made the states offers they couldn't refuse: 'free' training and
equipment in exchange for relinquishing control. The states happily
complied. (cf.: 'The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to
the lender.' Proverbs, 22:7)

On January 3, 1916, President Wilson further diminished the powers of the
People as a Militia under Title 32 U.S.Code. This Act authorized the use
of the newly constituted 'National Guard' to serve beyond the borders of
the United States. The inability to order the militia beyond the borders
of the United States arose from the fact that the role of militias was
defensive. However, the 1908 Act was clearly a violation of the
Constitution, a fact that did not escape the attention of the Judge
Advocate General of the United States Army nor the United States Attorney
General, both of whom acknowledged this portion of the Act
unconstitutional. See United States War Department, Digest of Opinions of
the Judge Advocate General of the Army: 1912-1940 644 (1942).

Undeterred, Congress passed another National Defense Act in 1916 as
America was gearing up to become involved in WWI, the war that made the
world 'Safe for Democracy' (or communism, as the case may be). Among the
increased requirements imposed upon the states (and the Regular Army who
had to administer these requirements) Congress devised a clever way to
sidestep the Constitutional prohibition against foreign use of militia
troops: President Wilson was authorized to draft state Guard members into
federal service as reserve troops. For its part, the Supreme Court upheld
this constitutional end-run in Arver v. U.S., 245 U.S. 366 (1918) (ruling
that the power to draft members of the National Guard into the Regular
[standing] Army, as well as the power to compel civilians to render
military service, was granted to the President by the Constitution).
Thereafter, President Wilson began drafting whole regiments into the
Reserves. Furthermore, the National Defense Act, as a condition precedent
to the receipt of federal funds, forced the states to cede most of
whatever control over the militia that remained, including the
constitutional prerogative to appoint officers to command the militia.

Do you see the pattern here? The federal government imposes ever
increasing and costly demands upon the states; and the states are forced
to accept federal money so that it can comply with these demands, along
with the loss of control that goes along with the money. Furthermore, by a
piecemeal process, a standing army was created, taking orders from the
President. What was once rule from the bottom up, has now become rule from
the top down.

***

Public Law 97-280, 96 Stat. 1211

Joint Resolution authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim 1983
as the 'Year of the Bible.'

'Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in
shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people;

'Whereas deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy
Scriptures led to the early settlement of our Nation;

'Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are
contained in our Declaration of Independence and the constitution of the
United States;

'Whereas many of our great national leaders-among them Presidents
Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson-paid tribute to the surpassing
influence of the Bible in our country's development, as the words of
President Jackson that the Bible is 'the rock on which our Republic
rests';

'Whereas the history of our Nation clearly illustrates the value of
voluntarily applying the teachings of the Scriptures in the lives of
individuals, families, and societies;

'Whereas this Nation now faces great challenges that will test this Nation
as it has never been tested before; and

'Whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy
Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people: Now, therefore, be
it

'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized and
requested to designate 1983 as a national 'Year of the Bible' in
recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our
Nation, and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy
Scriptures.'

Approved October 4, 1982.

### END OF ARTICLE

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