The Organized Militia - The National Guard

The National Guard is the modern equivalent of the organized colonial militia.  It is being used today in a manner I believe contrary to the concept of a militia, a defense force.  The symbol of the National Guard is the Minuteman.

I say organized militia because there was an unorganized militia, too.  Those were the colonists that could be called upon to fight, but did not muster regularly.  Today the same situation exists. 

US Code Title 10 Subtitle A Part I Chapter 13 - Section 311: Militia: composition and classes

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are -

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

The Naval Militia is the Coast Guard and Auxiliary. These militias are our defense against emergencies, against catastrophe, against mob rule.  Today if we need them, they might be in Afghanistan rather than their barracks.
 

It is as dangerous for us to mix these roles of Armed Forces and Militia as it is for us to mix the Military with the Police, the infamous Posse Comitatus (Power of the County).  The Drug War has our Military running the ragged edge of the Posse Comitatus Act.  The Coast Guard as an arm of Homeland Security is exempt from it, but the Navy and the National Guard are now "assisting."  Now the Armed Forces have co-opted the National Guard as an active reserve.  This might be appropriate in a time of outright war, but it is hardly proper for the military adventurism of our modern, super-delicate, international diplomacy and applications of overwhelming firepower and arrogance.

 
If we cut down the size of the Armed Forces. we might be less inclined to deploy them for adventures.  As a first step, I suggest we confine the National Guard to guarding within our national borders.  That should cut down on their fuel bill.

Image via Wikipedia