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“As nineteenth-century U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster said, “It will be the solemn duty of the state governments to protect their own authority over their own militia and to interpose between their citizens and arbitrary power.” “

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/donald-trump-should-endorse-the-defend-the-guard-act/

by Liam McCollum

This public letter includes a list of signatories including influential libertarians, Republican legislators, and military veterans which can be found below.

The newly adopted Republican Party platform promises to “SEAL THE BORDER” and “PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE.” Donald Trump, who last month formally became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee for the third time, should endorse the Defend the Guard Act as a way to achieve both.

The Defend the Guard Act is state-based legislation that would prevent the deployment of National Guard units overseas into foreign wars unless Congress has first officially declared war, as the Constitution requires. 

Despite commonly being dismissed as “weekend warriors,” the National Guard has been the primary fighting force in the Global War on Terror. 45% of those deployed in the post-9/11 wars have been Guardsmen, and Guardsmen have also represented nearly 20% of the casualties from those wars. 

My father’s childhood friend was deployed with the North Dakota National Guard when he was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2012. The North Dakota National Guard would not have been in Afghanistan if the Defend the Guard Act had been law in North Dakota and if states had insisted that Congress declare war first.

Lamentably, in addition to their tremendous cost, none of the post-9/11 wars have been constitutional. In fact, Congress has not declared war as required by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution since World War II, and yet, the United States has intervened in countless overseas conflicts since then.

An Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) is not a declaration of war, but rather, represents Congress’ abdication of their authority and responsibility to declare war to the president—a situation the framers of the Constitution attempted to prevent. 

The result has been an asymmetry between foreign policy outcomes and the public’s wishes, and at great cost to the military and the men and women who loyally serve in it. 

The American public has consistently favored withdrawal from our endless wars while their government in DC has prolonged them. For instance, the public has repeatedly favored withdrawal from Syria, but famously, top generals lied to President Trump when he attempted to leave. 

In addition, nearly three-fourths of veterans supported leaving Afghanistan when President Trump negotiated the original Doha agreement, but the Joe Biden Administration recklessly pushed the withdrawal date from May to the middle of “fighting season,” leading to predictable disaster.

The Defend the Guard Act would have prohibited National Guard units from being sent to any of those conflicts unless Congress, on behalf of the public, went on record first. 

An additional consequence of Congress’ abdication is that the National Guard has been fighting endless wars when they could have been deployed at the southern border or at home to protect their communities from natural disasters.  

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, 3,200 Louisiana Guardsmen were overseas in Iraq. When Florida was recently hit by hurricanes, 165 members of the Florida National Guard were training Ukrainians. Earlier this year, Arizona National Guardsmen were injured in a drone strike that killed three U.S. troops on the Jordan-Syria border when they could have been assisting Texas in its efforts at the United States border with Mexico. 

The above examples prove that if Donald Trump backed the Defend the Guard Act, it would be consistent with his “America First” messaging and popular with his base of constitutional conservatives. 

After Governor Greg Abbott sparred with President Biden over the Texas National Guard and the border earlier this year, the Texas GOP voted internally on the following Republican proposition: 

“The Texas Legislature should prohibit the deployment of the Texas National Guard to a foreign conflict unless Congress first formally declares war.”  

An overwhelming 84% supported the proposition, totaling more than 1.8 million votes. 

In addition to grassroots support, the legislation has been endorsed by Vivek Ramaswamy, former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Congressman Paul Gosar, Senator Rand Paul, and, of course, all of the signatories below. Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted on X, “I support state-level ‘Defend the Guard’ acts, which prohibit the deployment of the National Guard abroad without a formal declaration of war by Congress. It would put a limit on the military adventurism we take for granted today as normal.”

After a monumental vote in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, which is the second-largest legislative chamber in the United States behind Congress, a Fox & Friends panel hosted by Will Cain, Pete Hegseth, and Kayleigh McEnany expressed resounding support for the legislation. “To me, it makes a lot of sense, and I spent most of my career as a National Guardsman,” Hegseth said, “I love it.” McEnany added, “I love it, too.”

When I asked Congressman Thomas Massie about the effort, he said, “Trump should commit to respecting all aspects of Congress’s sole authority to declare war. This includes all branches of the military as well as the Guard.”

The legislation is also tripartisan, and Donald Trump’s support would likely win over many independents and libertarians to his campaign.

In June, the Montana Republican Party became the sixth state GOP party to adopt Defend the Guard language in its platform. To this day, the bill has been championed in over thirty states by Republican and Democrat sponsors and cosponsors (over a quarter of them military veterans) with the Libertarian Party National Committee’s endorsement and the help of many Libertarian Party state affiliates.

“My goal over the next year is to gain support for this bill from prominent liberty-minded congressmen and senators, like Matt Gaetz and Mike Lee,” said Angela McArdle, Chair of the Libertarian Party National Committee. “I think a libertarian populist wave is sweeping the nation and people are very open to the idea of bringing our troops home.” The Libertarian National Committee officially endorsed the legislation during McArdle’s first term as LNC Chair.

See the rest here

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