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Our Founding Fathers knew history, and they understood that a standing army would imperil the liberty of the people. The 2nd Amendment was not merely to assure the right of the people to keep and bear arms, it was hoped that the unorganized militia would render a standing army unnecessary. It hasn�t worked out that way; the Swiss experience with universal military training seems to hold more promise. In addition, the large standing police forces that we have today were beyond the imagination of our Founding Fathers. If they came back today they would consider the police to be a standing army in the worst European tradition. We need to rethink this whole idea. We have high crime and we seem to invade some far country every year or two.
The corruption of the police is a result of the �code of silence� whereby the majority keep silent about the misdeeds of the minority. Police brutality is numerically a very small problem, but if there is no way to stop it it assumes a large image. The military has a similar code of silence which can only be understood by men who have seen combat. This code is abused by a minority who seek power and money at the expense of the country they are sworn to defend.
We propose a radical change; to eliminate the corruption of the police and the misuse of the military by replacing both with short term volunteers. When a person has finished high school or college, let them volunteer for about 6 months of government service in the police or military. After learning the job and actually being a policeman or soldier, the volunteer leaves the service and collects his reward; the right to vote. That�s right, only retired veterans have the right to vote. This will ensure a steady flood of volunteers, even though the pay is paltry. It will also guarantee that all voters have seen both the military side and the civilian side, and are not hampered by superior officers who might be tempted to brainwash or intimidate them.
Restricting the privilege of voting is absolutely necessary to restore the republic. It may be difficult, but other reforms simply cannot be accomplished without rectifying the basic error made in the American experiment; the junking of the republic in favor of democracy. Our Founding Fathers rejected democracy for good reasons; we must do the same. This is the root message we are trying to get across.
The consequences of restricting the vote to retired military and police volunteers will be far reaching. All jurors, judges, and most legislators will have seen firsthand the problems of police in the streets; they will give the police lots of elbow room to get the job done, yet quickly recognize true excesses. Even lawyers will need to serve their term in the police if they want to communicate with the jury. There should be no problem with retired military and police carrying concealed weapons; this pool of armed civilians would make crime short lived.
The retired military would truly saturate the country. Having seen firsthand the waste and the valuable, they as voters could make informed judgments about military budgets. We would expect few golf courses and many ranges. More than that, the retired military would make the wisest choice about a declaration of war, since they themselves would be called to fight. They would not tolerate no-win wars or inferior weapons or abandoned POWs. The huge reserves of retired soldiers, pilots, generals, etc., would make America almost invulnerable. Who would dare attack? Who would goad US? Since almost everybody would be retired military and police, the code of silence would hardly apply.
This volunteer service is not intended to be a substitute or extension of civilian education, but rather directed almost exclusively toward military and police work. A passing grade in a GED type test would be a prerequisite to join, a failing grade would indicate insufficient literacy to join or vote. Nor is the service intended to be a substitute for reform school; criminals would be barred, but exactly what constituted a criminal would differ from state to state.
A teaching core would be required, a staff recruited from those completing their service who stay on up to 10 years to teach newcomers. This teaching staff would be prohibited from staying more than 10 years, and would receive NO PENSION. Certain specialized occupations could not reasonably be taught in 6 months, such as pilots or generals, and they would extend their voluntary service up to 5 years maximum to learn their skills, after which they would become the active reserves and refresh their skills yearly in training. When they retired from the active service into the reserves they would be given the vote.
As an example, consider the problems of a nuclear submarine. Probably 10%+ of the crew would be 10 year teaching staff, another 20% would be 5 year specialists, and the rest would be short termers who might be required to extend their stay until the ship returned to port. The exact details are unimportant, it is the spirit that matters. The intention is to build large reserves of adequately trained people, but few trained to combat sharpness. History has shown that only war can separate the heroes from the actors. We need a large pool available, not a small group of peacetime paper pushers.
There was in the past a large difference between the army and the navy. The navy was kept at reasonable strength to protect our shipping and launch raids against pirate ports, while the army was only a skeleton to be filled from the ranks of the militia when war came. Thus, no standing army but a floating navy. The difference arose because there was little to fear from a navy gone amok, it could not threaten landlubbers except for a tiny number at the waters edge. The navy also required frequent maintainance and supplies from land. On the other hand, a standing army has always been the springboard to tyranny. Today, with aircraft and missiles in the navy, it also can endanger our freedom and so must be kept on a shorter leash than was required in colonial times. Battleships and ICBM submarines are no problem, but aircraft, aircraft carriers and especially helicopters must be controlled similiar to the army.
Even in ancient Roman times this was recognized. No commander was allowed to cross the Rubicon with his army, but the navy could sail up to Rome.
We would blur the distinction between the military and police by giving all military a short police course, and all police a short military course. This will prove of great value in riot, war, or disaster, and carry over into voter intelligence.
Occupations so specialized that more than 10 years experience is essential, such as a coroner or forensic specialist, could easily be hired as civilian subcontractors. This gives them no time limit, no rank and no pension.
The 10 year limit would also apply to all government workers, and only retired volunteers would be eligible for much of civil service. No pensions here either. Civil servants should consider their jobs temporary, and should avoid building an empire. We see no reason to permit civil servants to vote, since they would vote themselves pensions and privilege from the public pocket. Note that civil servants are unarmed. The FBI would have to choose between having unarmed 10 year people or armed 6 month volunteers. The secret service might prefer to become a civilian contractor(s).
What is the bottom line, what do we gain or lose with this radical system? With about 10% of the people retired policemen and 80% retired military, we will have little to fear from crime or invasion. Empire building and corruption will be difficult since the majority of the volunteers will turn over in 6 months. Government workers will have no pension and will have to work for the improvement of the civilian sector. The cost of operating the government will be small since pay would be low and pensions non existent. All government workers would know they would have to live most of their lives as civilian taxpayers. An obnoxious policeman or uncivil servant would have a hard time finding a civilian job at his 10 year exit.
How could such a system actually be implemented? Only by revolution. Few countries have survived 200 years without a revolution or invasion, and our turn is coming. Prepare for it.
Nick Hull, < [email protected] >
Secretary, Committees of Correspondence
2702 Kimbrell Road, Lenoir City, Tennessee 37772
865-856-6185
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