Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Surprise, surprise . . .
the Founders abhorred standing armies!
Consider the words of Virginian James Madison:
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
Sam Adams put it this way:
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress ... to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States.
Henry St. George Tucker, in Blackstone’s 1768 Commentaries on the Laws of England, stated:
Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.
Virginian Patrick Henry pointed out:
A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; and how are you to punish them? Will you order them to be punished? Who shall obey these orders? Will your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?
The Declaration of Rights of the State of North Carolina made this point:
That the people have a Right to bear Arms for the Defence of the State, and as Standing Armies in Time of Peace are dangerous to Liberty, they ought not to be kept up, and that the military should be kept under strict Subordination to, and governed by the Civil Power.
The Pennsylvania Convention put it this way:
As standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil power.
Eldridge Gerry saide in 1789:
What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty.
Today, the US Empire maintains troops in 150 foreign countries. Modern-day Americans do not comprehend the costs - in money, good will, safty at home and abroad - associated with this monstrosity.
Consider the words of Virginian James Madison:
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
Sam Adams put it this way:
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress ... to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States.
Henry St. George Tucker, in Blackstone’s 1768 Commentaries on the Laws of England, stated:
Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.
Virginian Patrick Henry pointed out:
A standing army we shall have, also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; and how are you to punish them? Will you order them to be punished? Who shall obey these orders? Will your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?
The Declaration of Rights of the State of North Carolina made this point:
That the people have a Right to bear Arms for the Defence of the State, and as Standing Armies in Time of Peace are dangerous to Liberty, they ought not to be kept up, and that the military should be kept under strict Subordination to, and governed by the Civil Power.
The Pennsylvania Convention put it this way:
As standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil power.
Eldridge Gerry saide in 1789:
What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty.
Today, the US Empire maintains troops in 150 foreign countries. Modern-day Americans do not comprehend the costs - in money, good will, safty at home and abroad - associated with this monstrosity.
# posted by Sete @ 1:34 PM 
