"Schemes to subvert the liberties of a great
community require time to mature them for execution. An
army, so large as seriously to menace those liberties,
could only be formed by progressive augmentations; which
would suppose, not merely a temporary combination between
the legislature and executive, but a continued conspiracy
for a series of time. Is it probable that such a
combination would exist at all? Is it probable that it
would be preserved in, and transmitted along through all
the successive variations in a representative body, which
biennial elections would naturally produce in both
houses? Is it presumable, that every man, the instant he
took his seat in the national Senate or House of
Representatives, would commence a traitor to his
constituents and to his country? Can it be supposed that
there would not be found one man, discerning enough to
detect so atrocious a conspiracy, or bold enough or
honest enough to apprise his Constituents of their
danger? If such presumptions can fairly be made, there
ought at once to be an end of all delegated authority.
The people should resolve to recall all the powers they
have heretofore parted with out of their own hands, and
to divide themselves into as many States as there are
counties, in order that they may be able to manage their
own concerns in person.
"If such suppositions could even be reasonably
made, still the concealment of the design, for any
duration, would be impracticable. It would be announced
by the very circumstance of augmenting the army to so
great an extent in time of profound peace. What colorable
reason could be assigned, in a country so situated, for
such vast augmentations of the military force? It is
impossible that the people could be long deceived; and
the destruction of the project, and of the projectors,
would quickly follow the discovery.
Alexander
Hamilton, FP #26
During the siege at Mt. Carmel Center, Texas, the
BATF, within just a few of days, had over five hundred
"troops" from around the country sent in to
bolster their efforts against all the women, children and
the few men inside the church. The FBI also sent over
five hundred of their "troops" (some who had
just recently returned from Ruby Ridge, Idaho). Within
days, the FBI was in charge of the entire operation. A
standing army, complete with tanks and sophisticated
electronic equipment, was waging war on the American
people.
A new bill (HR 97) was introduced in the House of
Representatives on the 4th of January, 1995. It was
referred to the Judiciary Committee and is titled the
"Rapid Deployment Strike Force Act" It's
purpose is to create a "strike force" of 2500
FBI "troops" trained especially for the type of
event that occurred in Waco. I'm sure that Lon Horiuchi,.
among others, are chomping at the bit to become the
charter members of this proposed elite force.
Reading the proposed hill made me think of the
consequences of the bill, if enacted, as it would affect
the Constitution. Two clauses in Article I, Section 8,
might bear on this matter. Clause 12, "To raise
and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that
Use shall be for a longer Term than Two year,"
for example, limits the appropriations of any funding for
a standing army to two years. Clause 15, "To
provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws
of Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions,"
provides for a means to deal with violations of United
States law. (Read "Constitution: Fact or
Fiction," by Dr. Eugene Schroder to understand the
difference between law and code).
Understanding what Hamilton said is important in
itself. It is even more important to understand that in
colonial times, the only government police force was the
army. After the creation of the Union, police, sheriffs
and the Posse Comitatus became local law enforcement,
based upon community needs, desires and laws. National
crimes were nearly nonexistent and were to be addressed
by the militia, as Hamilton pointed out. At the time
there were only three crimes identified in the
Constitution which could be considered national laws.
There was, and still is no need for any federal "law
enforcement". Crime as an affront to the community,
not to the nation, unless the criteria defined in the
Constitution is met. The FBI is an investigative agency,
and the BATF is a tax collection agency. What has lead us
to accept, without question, the establishment of them as
federal police? If we understood that, we would not
tolerate a "federal army" which was directed at
us, we might better understand what is happening to us
today.
The prohibition against a standing army served two
purposes. First was the desire to avoid wars which were
motivated by other than self-preservation. Second was to
prohibit the imposition of that standing army on the
people, themselves, to force submission to
arbitrary control by the Executive. Hamilton also gave us
the solution to this problem. He went further when he
described what manner would be used if this authority
were usurped when he continued:
"It has been said that the provision which
limits the appropriation of money for the support of any
army to the period of two years would be unavailing,
because the Executive, when once possessed of a force
large enough to awe the people into submission, would
find resources in that very source sufficient to enable
him to dispense with supplies from the acts of the
legislature. But the question again recurs, upon what
pretence could he be put in possession of' a force of
that magnitude in time of peace? If we suppose it to have
been I created in consequence of some domestic
insurrection or foreign war, then it becomes a case not
within the principles of the objection; for this is
levelled against the power of keeping up troops in time
of peace. Few persons will be so visionary as seriously
to contend that military forces ought not to be raised to
quell a rebellion or resist an invasion; and if the
defence of the community under such circumstances should
make it necessary to have an army so numerous as to
hazard its liberty, this is one of those calamities for
which there is neither preventative nor cure. It cannot
be provided against by any possible form of government;
it might even result from a simple league offensive and
defensive, if it should ever be necessary for the
confederates or allies to form an army for common
defence.
"But is an evil infinitely less likely to
attend us in a united than in a disunited state; nay, it
may be safely asserted that if is an evil altogether
unlikely to attend us in the latter situation. It is not
easy to conceive a possibility that dangers so formidable
can assail the whole Union, as to demand a force
considerable enough to place our liberties in the least
jeopardy, especially if we take into our view the aid to
be derived from the militia, which ought always to be
counted upon as a valuable and powerful auxiliary. But in
a state of disunion (as has been fully shown in another
place), the contrary of this supposition would become not
only probable, but almost unavoidable.
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