Time for Militias to Organize

Rumor has it that Bush is going to send the National Guard to the Mexican Border. This is doubtless a sop to the know-nothings, but it will not be effective for any purpose except to garner their admiration. The National Guard is much too busy with foreign adventures to do much about immigrants other than shoot them on sight. Of course, that would probably be fine by the know-nothings.

Is it just me, or is the military intruding into more and more areas unrelated to national defense? Posse comitatus will be ignored, I am certain, since Bush is apparently at war with America.

Meanwhile, what happens to national defense? The young men and women who signed up for the Guard to defend their hometowns are on the other side of the world and now off to the Mexican border. If someone wanted to defend his hometown, he shouldn’t join the Guard.

I reckon what we need is a well-ordered people’s militia. It can’t be part of the government, though, because it will be misused if it is. We may want to arm ourselves and organize for the defense of our communities and to provide as volunteers some of the services that the Guard used to provide, e.g. disaster relief, emergency preparedness, civil defense.

The National Guard is just way too “national” and is too subject to the whims of the feds to be counted on for local emergencies and defense. We can’t even be certain that the Guard will defend us rather than occupy us. And civilian agencies aren’t much use (witness FEMA). I would feel a lot better knowing the volunteer fire department or local militia was coming to my assistance rather than the Guard.

Another function the militia might serve is as a constabulary. Many local police departments could be reduced in size or disbanded or augmented at no cost while militiamen volunteered to patrol the jurisdiction as a deterrent to thieving and other mischief. It might be vital to coopt police departments since they, jealous of their monopoly on force, could be a source of resistance to the activities of the militias.

Local militias would help bring communities together and would be a source of social interaction much as volunteer firehouses are. Militias, which will not be called upon very frequently to defend the community, might maintain cohesion by engaging in voluntary acts of public service from time to time. Of course, each militia headquarters will have a bar to raise funds.