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Show Page 6 The Utah The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand Independent April 7, 1977 of formation the mands de The U. S. Constitution justice for just as established for Now that we have GUEST EDITORIAL By; HAMILTON CALHOUN Over a period of the past 187 years; since the Constitution became the final authoUrity over our government, this great legal document has been abused many times. But in only one area has it been completely distorted and misrepresented to the extent that almost no prie in this country today, has any concept of what was the original intention of the authors. This is in the area of the State Militia and this is a shocking fact : . when you consider how much the Constitution has to say on this subject. The fact, .that there is not a single State Militia in existence in the United States today is an unquestionable violation of the Constitution: aqd yet no one seems to care. During the recent presidential election the subject was not raised by either, major political party. Not one of the many candidates who sought the office1 of a congressman, had this in their platform nor did those who ran for. the Senate. This issue is of absolute importance to the freedom of the citizens of each of our fifty states and yet no state governor is trying to get a restoration of this important military unit. $ut what is a state militia? The dictionary describes it as army in contrast to a professional army. It goes on to explain that it is the male citizens in a who are not members of a reg- -' state ular armed forces. This very definition proves that the state .militia a. citizens able-bodi- ed and the National Guard are not the same thing in the fact, that under the U.S. Department of the Army is a full time National Guard Bureau, command of a major generun-der-- the al of the regular army. The National Guard Bureau is nothing more than a. separate army reserve system that functions within the state as well as the federal areas. In fact the National Guard is actually not Constitutional because it is in violation of the loth Article of the Bill of .Fights. It intrudes into an area that is clearly assigned to the State fylilitia by- our founding fathers. A State Militia according to the dictionary then is a military force made up of all the physically fit adult male citizens of that particular st&e, who are not members of any part of. our national militaiy forces- - The word citizen is important, because it prevents an alien frotri being able to infiltrate this important part of our inoerior defense force. Since the original militias of - . the world were the home guard to protect our wives and children if it was too important to enturst into the hands, of anyone who did not understand thf real meaning and responsibility of being free. It also reflected the fact that a' citizen was a person of responsibility because to exercise this right meant that he had a job,- or. owned a business or had some other legitimate means of .support from which he paid his' taxes. A citizen was never a freeloader. who looked to the government to supply his needs in life. He was also a person who would exercise his right to vote and take up his 'responsibilities in seeing that this great Republic continued to exist. Now' the fact that he was' an adult male is important because as an adult, he was mature . enough toap-- . preciate the importance of his State Militia. Being a male was import- ant because God. established the principal that the man is to be the protector, defender and provider of the family. Consider the words of the new convert who prayed: Oh, Lord, help me to reform the world, beginning with me. Just what a state militia is, then it becomes obvious to us, that no such organization exists in our country at this time. So let us examine the Constitution of the United States to see what it has to say on this sub- ject. So that we can be absolutely sure that we are supposed to have a militia. The preamble to the Constitution states: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,, extablish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, protnote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of. America. The words "Provide for the common defence are of extreme importance to every citizen of this country. The word "provide is defined in the dictionary as meaning to furnish, to supply, to take measures in preparation to guarantee something can be accomplished. . . Thus one of the purposes in hang. a Constitution was to take all of the measures necessary to guarantee FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE. The word Common . in speaking of a body of government is defined as pertaining to the community as a whole. Thus the common defence was speaking of the defense of every citizen of the U.S. against all enemies internal and external. But the little definite article "the is of , maximum inportance in understanding the meaning of this phrase. Wheh used in this way English Grammar states that it denotes particular specified things. Now if they had used the article "a,- then because it is an indefinite article the passage could be interpreted to mean that they guaranteed the foundation of a National. Military Force. But this is not what we have before us in the preamble! What we .have is the guarantee that "THE COMMON DEFENCE FORCE will be provided and the common defence force in 1787 was the STATE MILITIA. At the time, of the writing of the Constitution in 1787 the highest ranking officer in the United States Army was Josiah Harmer with the permanent rank of Lt. Col. and the title of Commander of the Army. The various State Militias were under the command of Brigadier or Major Generals and their ranks far exceeded those of the regular army because they commanded more men. Now in Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 1 which describes a portion of the duties of the Congress, the phrase "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the - United States. What a fantastic In statement! the same sentence the is Congress given power to pass tax' bills and collect taxes they are ordered to provide for the common defence! I . Now the Constitution does not the drop subject at this point by any means. In paragraph 12 of this Section they, are commanded to "raise armies and to support them, but they are forbidden' to. make army appropriation for more than two years at a time. The reason for this is because if Congress is to do their responsibility to keep America a strpng and powerful nation, and to maintain a powerful standing army, at all. times they must constantly review military appropriations. The next paragraph commands them to The art of staying young depends upon staying youthful on the inside, in mind, heart and spirit.... Then provide and maintain a Navy. make in paragraph 14 they are to rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces. In paragraph 15 they are commanded to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions. Now this paragraph ties together the' complete concept of what our founding fathers meant when they wrote Into the Constitution "provide for- the common defence. They meant that the U.S. would at all times have an Army, a Navy and a State Militia. - This paragraph also the fact that we are not talking about the National Guard because the Constitution does NOT give the federal government the authority to send the State Militia outside of American soil to fight and the National Guard units have been used in combat in foreign countries. is the most important because it gives us details of Congressional responsibility to the Militia and certain restrictions on Congress In relation to it. "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 States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the. officers, and the authority for trainParagraph 16 U-ni- ing the militia according to the ted dis- cipline prescribed by Congress.. The failure of Congress to Act in accordance with this section of the Constitution should be grounds to charge all of them with malfeasance of office for failure to uphold the Constitution of the United States and fulfill all of their responsibilities to lt. Consider the paragraph on a step by step basis: To provide for organizing requires Congress to use thepowerof their office to guarantee that a 1. state militia is organized in every one of the fifty states as well as our territories and commonwealths. Now it does not order Congress to run the militia but it orders them to provide a system of organ- ization, for each state. This would include a chain of command for each one with Instructions for the establishment of units such as companies, battalions, brigades, div- isions, and iii larger states,, even corps and armies. 2. "To provide arms (called arming in the Constitution) is a powerful responsibility, because Instead of .giving Congress the authority to pass acts of gun control, it ORDERS them to provide arms to every state militia. this act would cover two separate areas. It would first require Now Congress to makd available to the state militia every type of weapon necessary for THEIR COMMON DEFENSE including the best planes, tanks, etc. Secondly, it commands Congress to put no restrictions on the individuals rights to purchase whatever personal weapons they. need This is in agreement with principals of capitalism and also coincides with what was actually done during the early years of the Republic. On this point . we accept the traditional method of the day and not the. legal definition because under a legal definition the Congress would have to appropriate funds to supply arms to every citizen of our country who would be in the militia. To provide discipline means 3. that Congress' must provide military manuals of instruction, for all phases of training including drills aqd alsp provide amilitary cQde of. You cant pursue happiness and catch it. Happiness comes upon you unawares while you are helping others. Believe! provide Navy. m them they must the U.S. Army and the s? cl. The appointment of militia of- fleers was reserved for the states els so. that they would be able to guar- - on antee that this defense forde was orIJ for their protection and could never ea be used to enslave them by a total- - te 4. itarian force. 5. The training of the individual militias was to be left strictly in ; the hands of the states buf Congress was responsible to see that the stu training was carried out, thus Con- gress was responsible for making sure that Military Installations ex- - SJ 1st within every local area of our ' ? country. These Installations to be used by the jstate militias. In Paragraph 17, Congress is 6. given the authority to erect forts, ni magazines, arsenals, dock yards ar and other needful buildings. rg This concludes all of the specific Congressional Authority In relat- ionship to the United States Armed Forces and State Militias. Article Two of the Constitution deals with the responsibilities of the President and this also has a section on the military. Section Two begins with, "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states when called into actual service of the United States. Here once again, we see a dis- tinction between the United States armed forces and the state militia. This is important because it demon- strates that the President has a re sponsibility -- to guarantee the exis- tence of the state militia. He CANNOT call' into actual service a mil- itary organization that does not ex- - ist. Under Section Three he is given the authority to make recommen-dation- s to Congress to fulfill their Constutional responsibility and to guarantee the immediate organiz- ation of the militia in every state of the Union. Under Paragraph 7 of Section One where his oath of office is given he has already sworn to preserve, protect and defend the 1 A c1' ar t0 re JU ar i DJ f . a S( a: . j" tj j a b b b Constitution of the. U.S. Now if the 8 President does not demand the do something about state militias being organized then he has violated his oath of office and he should be impeached at once. Under Article Four, Section 4, j the shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican fomr of government, and shall protect each. of them against invasion: and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot convene) against domestic violence. This is one of the most important sections of our Constitution because it places upon the combined Executive, Congressional and Judicial branches. of our government the full responsibility to see that American soil is not invaded and that insurrection shall not occur within our boundaries. There is only one jvay that this can be accomplished! That is by Congress authorizing the formation of the most powerful military force on' the face of the earth. It means America must be so militarily powerful that no nation nor any combination of nations would ever dare Con-gre- ss U.-S- . to attack us! This means nuclear weapons, massive armies, navies, and air forces on active duty 365 days a year, and ir means that every adult -- physically fit, male not on active duty be assigned to an operating part of a state militia. This massive citizen's There is a mental magnet within you that attracts to you what you are. Doubt attracts doubt and faith attracts faith. army Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny spark of possibility within you into the flame of achievement. |