The militia

Ever since MecVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City the very word 'militia' has had a bum rap.

Most people don't seem to know how big an umbrella the militia really is. There are several legal definitions of what the governments, state and federal define it as but it covers a lot more than that.

Since Day One back in prehistoric times the various tribes, clans and families would band together for common protection. I suppose you'd grab your club and join in for the festivities and drive out the invaders. 

The right to organize for common defense is a long time God Given right. People have the God given right to defend themselves against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is a God given right to do so.

The Constitution of the United States mentions the militia in the Second Amendment where it allows citizens to keep arms for defense of themselves and the state. By that definition it probably means military grade firearms individually although at one time many cities, towns, counties and states had their own artillery for use by the militia if needed. In some towns in New England some of these old cannons grace various memorials and parks. (Virtually all of them have been spiked to keep mischevious kids (like me) from loading  them with black powder to make a racket with on the 4th of July.)

The concept was actually so that the Feds would not have to maintain a standing army. They envisioned a very small cadre augmented by the citizenry with each citizen providing his own (military grade) weapon. It made sense because the Founding Fathers knew how dangerous a standing army could be to the citizenry. A standing army could be used to enslave the people.

This system is used in  Switzerland where until very recently ALL Swiss males were trained at age 18, given arms, ammunition and equipment which they kept at home. In a very short time the Swiss can raise a fairly formidable army. These days service is not compulsory but those that do serve are armed and keep their arms at home. This system has served Switzerlans well for centuries.

There is a federal law on the books defining the militia. It consists basically of all citizens between the ages of 17 and 45. The Commonwealth of PA defines it basically of all Pennsylvanians 17 and a half to 55 years of age and others by their own application.

All 50 states have various National Guard units. Many states have home guard or state militias of various sorts. The former can be federalized, the latter can't. They are designed to take care of state afairs if the National Guard unit of that state is deployed.

These are legal definitions. Still, there's more to that when you look at the entire picture. Thomas Jefferson once described it as 'all of us' and to me that holds some water. There's more to it than legal definitions of a state.

Interestingly enough, all 50 states have laws prohibiting paramilitary training of one sort or another. The law in PA is vague and in order to be enforced intent must be proved otherwise every sportsman's, hunting and shooting club and rifle range would be forced to shut down. These laws were enacted by politicians with the very purpose of protecting politicians. 

I question the very morality of these laws. If the politicians are doing what they are supposed to be doing they should not fear those engaged in so-called paramilitary training. If they were truly honest they would encourage it.

A number of these anti paramilitary training laws were enacted after the Oklahoma City bombings because the media in it's infinite wisdom created a menace by naming many groups they didn't approve of by listing them as militias. The whole thing tended to smear the very name militia into being a bunch of right wing anti government groups.

It goes without saying that the state has enacted these laws for its own protection. Nobody in power wants to be thrown out.

Do these groups exist? Most certainly. Are they all right wing? Certainly not. Many of them hide behind the name 'militia' in a futile attempt to hide behind the Second Amendment. For what it's worth from what I have seen most of the members are Walter Mitty types full of unrealistic fantasies. Actually these guys for the most part should be left alone. They do nobody any harm and are unlikely to do anything unless the government turns tyrannical.

On the other hand, in some states the governors have turned into little tyrants and should either be replaced or brought back into line. This has very noticibly grown since the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Don't believe it? Try telling almost any Pennsylvanian under the age of 55 that they are a part of the militia and most will recoil at the thought and think they have been called some kind of right wing anti government type. The very word these days has that evil context to it thanks to the media.

Actually there are more than one militias. 

The organized militia(s) consist of the National Guard and the various state or home guards. Then there is the unorganized militia. This latter consists of all citizens and legal immigrants. It is a truly murky situation. The state actually may or may not have any control of it whatsoever depending on any number of things. 

People have a God given right to band together for common defense against all enemies, foreign, domestic or criminal. It actually happens on a daily basis when you think of it. A neighborhood watch, armed or unarmed is nothing more than the unorganized militia pulling together for a specific reason. A volunteer fire department fighting a fire (fire being the common enemy in this case) likely falls under this when you think about it.

Actually so would an angry populace showing up to run out a fraudlent government. People have a right to be governed by the government of their choice.

John Locke I believe it was, basically defined the relationship beween governed and government. Government is a contract between governed and governing that can be broken at any time.

The Founding Fathers realized that government as an institution had to be kept fair and just and the people should be armed so that when/if it became tyrannical it could be overthrown.

In Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince this is covered. Should the populace be armed? Machiavelli says that a just Prince wants an armed populace because those very arms can be used to defend his Kingdom. On the other hand if the Prince is a tyrant, the people should be disarmed because the arms can be used to overthrow him.

The Founding Fathers knew this and this is another reason the 2nd Amendment permits an armed populace.

So back to the militia. What is it?

I think I'll run with Thomas Jefferson on this. It is all of us.