Defend The Guard
Defend The Guard legislation is the first step toward curbing the imperial appetite for war, that has robbed Americans of both wealth and life for generations.
A Tradition of Intervention
Since 1812, The United States Congress has only passed 11 declarations of war, encompassing 5 separate conflicts: Great Britain in 1812, Mexico in 1846, Spain in 1898, Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War 1, and the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria) during World war 2.1 Yet regardless of this dramatic and drastic measure being taken so infrequently, and not since 1942, The United States has spent 228 years engaged in military conflict out of its 246 years since the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
The history of American military imperialism and overt foreign intervention begins as early as the 1811 invasion of the newly independent Argentina by US Forces. Preceding even the executive mandate of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. And while the Journal of Conflict Resolution published research in 2019 showing that up to that point there had been a whopping 400 armed foreign military interventions around the globe conducted by US forces since 1776,2 there had also been 117 instances of partisan electoral interference between 1946 and 2000 alone. To put that in context, one out of every nine democratic elections worldwide following the end of World War 2 suffered from interference by the United States Government. While over 60 separate countries have been the targets of these political interventions by the United States, the global nature of The War on Terror, and the Cold War expanded the number of nations that have seen military intervention significantly.
The majority of armed conflicts the US Military engages in are brief exercises in strategic and tactical domination, with heavily lopsided casualty counts and a decisive victory declared in short order. The invasions of Panama, Grenada, and Iraq (the first time) are remembered for how thorough and decisive US victories were in such a rapid time frame. The all-volunteer professional fighting forces of the United States are world-renowned for their capabilities of excelling at the violence of military conflict. The objectives for these interventions have revolved around economy, territory, social protection, regime change, protection of US citizens and diplomats, policy change, empire, and regime building.
Team America, The World Police
With such a storied history of conflict and the benefit of being the only industrialized nation to survive World War 2 with its domestic infrastructure unscathed, the rise of The American Empire took a turn from expansionism to policing in the second half of the 20th century. The arms race of the cold war, and the doctrine of intervention by the newly formed NATO and United Nations, led to the US becoming the global leader in peacekeeping and policing efforts. From anti-piracy operations on international waterways, to direct military intervention in civil wars in Korea and Vietnam to stop the spread of communism, the rise of the American Global Policing Force was done with international mandate and support. As Americans bore the financial cost for global security, allowing European nations to rebuild their societies and economies in the post-war era.
This inevitably led to the US Military being constantly deployed and engaged on a truly global scale, wherever conflict may possibly arise. Peacekeeping efforts led to permanent deployments, with US military bases and installations popping up all over Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. These permanent deployments becoming drains not just on the financial resources of the American taxpayers, but on the readiness and manpower of the United States Armed forces themselves.
With America’s War on Terror spreading to 40% of the countries of the world, the cost of the conflict was inevitably unbearable. The US Military alone has spent $1.9 trillion fighting terrorism from 2001-20193, not accounting for the human cost included in the logistical nightmare of fighting a war on so many fronts. Someone had to pick up the slack to continue the effort. That someone ended up being The National Guard.
The National Guard
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.
-The Second Amendment to The Constitution of The United States
The second amendment is one of the most recognizable, and hotly debated amendments to the United States Constitution. With a raging political war over the role and place of guns in American culture, everyone glosses over the history of why the first clause in the text was so necessary. The American Revolution was not fought and won by a standing army. Sure, the Continental congress raised funds and made provisions for a continental army, to lead the fight against the British forces in the name of Independence, but it was the militiamen who carried the day. Irregular forces met the redcoats on village commons, harassed them on roadways and engaged in the earliest forms of guerilla warfare to destroy not just the capabilities, but the morale of their enemy.
Our founding fathers knew that the independence and security of their new nation would depend on the willingness and ability of the people to take up arms in their own defense. A standing army was seen as a tool of tyrants, used just as often to oppress their own people as it was to defend the state. Over time, these militias became more organized and became official units recognized and funded by their home states, becoming the National Guard. In fact, the oldest National Guard units, Field Artillery and Infantryman from Massachusetts, trace their unit lineage back to those men who stood on the greens in Concord and Lexington and refused to surrender their weapons to the British army.4 I myself served in the 181st Infantry Battalion in the Massachusetts National Guard when I was younger, and my experiences there greatly shaped my future political views and drove me to become an activist.
The purpose of the National Guard has changed over time, from being the primary defense force to a community resource with defense capabilities. While most commonly called to assist in local disaster relief, whether for hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, or wildfires, The National Guard has also been called for security and defense, such as in Boston following the Marathon Bombing, or in Airports nationwide following 9/11. But in the wake of the war on terror, and the strains of such a multifaceted global war, The United States government began normalizing the practice of calling on the National Guard to fill the gaps in the regular army, and deploy for combat, on regular rotations.
Leaving communities without their civic resources, deploying sons and daughters, husbands and wives, teachers and nurses overseas to fight an endless war, has created an environment where the government is able to scale its wartime operations through consistent and unreluctant reliance on reserve forces. Allowing politicians to think of those resources as unlimited and scalable, instead of scarce and precious.
Defend The Guard!
Defend The Guard legislation is the first step toward curbing the imperial appetite for war, that has robbed Americans of both wealth and life for generations. BringOurTroopsHome.US has launched a national initiative to support “Defend The Guard” legislation in states across the country. Helping legislators with model legislation, expert testimony, publicity, and lobbying, they’ve picked the fight of the century, as the political establishment and the pentagon have mobilized to oppose them.
The goal of "Defend the Guard," a project of BringOurTroopsHome.US, is to have states reassert their Tenth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution and provide a necessary check on the federal government's use of military force as a tool of U.S. foreign policy.
State legislators have an essential, civic obligation to their voters to demand that the federal government adhere to congressional wars powers as mandated by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Without an official declaration of war by the U.S. Congress, states have a duty to withhold their troops from active combat.
The sole objective of "Defend the Guard" is to obligate the federal government to obey the U.S. Constitution before sending our sons and daughters to fight more endless wars.DefendTheGuard.us, Mission Statement5
Visit their website today, to learn more and see how you can get involved, and get in touch with legislators in your state that need your help to get this critically important legislation passed!
Subversive #82: "Defend The Guard" feat. Rep Matthew Santonastaso
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Summary
Defend The Guard legislation is the first step toward curbing the imperial appetite for war, that has robbed Americans of both wealth and life for generations. New Hampshire State Representative Matthew Santonastaso joins the show to talk about the importance of the defend the guard legislation he's sponsoring, and how Americans can take back our country from the military-industrial complex.
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United States Senate Archives, https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/declarations-of-war.htm
Kushi, S., & Toft, M. D. (2022). Introducing the Military Intervention Project: A New Dataset on US Military Interventions, 1776–2019. Journal of Conflict Resolution. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221117546
Savell, Stephanie, Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/map-shows-places-world-where-us-military-operates-180970997/
National Guard Archives, https://www.nationalguard.mil/Features/2020/384th-Birthday/
DefendTheGuard.us, Mission Statement, https://defendtheguard.us/index#mission