This article is basically a brief addendum to my recent article about the Constitution, the “Founders,” and the related mythology, confusion, contradictions and hypocrisy involved.
An example of extreme irony is how many members of the United States “armed forces” loudly and proudly proclaim their loyalty to and reverence for the U.S. Constitution, and the Founding Fathers. Now you might ask, “What’s so ironic about that?” Well, it’s just a tad hypocritical for members of a “government” standing army to wax eloquent about how much they love the document that forbids the existence of “government” standing armies.
The irony is made worse by the fact that, when they join up, they swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” and then they immediately violate that oath by becoming part of a standing army that the Constitution forbids, and that pretty much all of the “Founding Fathers” (federalist and anti-federalist alike) vehemently opposed. Where the Constitution lists the powers that Congress would have (in Article I, Section 8), it states that “Congress shall have Power To ...raise and support Armies,” but then immediately adds that “no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.”
The Founders were well aware that a standing army, made up of professional soldiers, was (as Samuel Adams put it) “always dangerous to the Liberties of the People.” So they included that provision to make sure that forming a military would always be a very temporary thing, and that the army would consist of average Americans, who mostly just wanted to be done so they could go home, rather than consisting of career soldiers who would always be looking for some new war to engage in. Because they knew that, as James Madison put it, “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” For those who don’t already know this, the U.S. military has been involved in one war or another for 222 out of the last 239 years. That’s basically being at war somewhere or other for 93% of the nation’s history.
That’s why it’s rather odd for members of the largest standing army in the world to be cheering rah-rah-rah for the U.S. Constitution, when “the Father of the Constitution” said this:
“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty … The means of defence against 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.” - James Madison
So, you folks in the military, if you actually took your oath seriously, and actually intended to defend and uphold the Constitution from all enemies, you would invade the Pentagon, and maybe the White House and Congress too, take out the career war-mongers, and then quit. But of course, since the career war-mongers are the ones who give you your orders, and your paychecks, you aren’t going to. But, to be honest, you should at least stop pretending that you give a damn about the Constitution.
(It should be mentioned that the Constitution does provide for a navy, without the same limitations as those imposed on raising armies, mainly because it's difficult for a bunch of soldiers out on the ocean to oppress the people living on land. However, if the members of the U.S. Navy took their oaths seriously, they would be doing battle with the U.S. Army.)
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(Larken Rose is a speaker, author and activist, having advocated the principles of non-aggression, self-ownership and a stateless, voluntary society for over twenty years. Donations to help support his articles, videos and other projects can be made by PayPal to "[email protected]" or by Bitcoin to 13xVLRidonzTHeJCUPZDaFH6dar3UTx5js.)
