How about abolish the standing army, give everyone the right to own standard infantry weapons, and allow the states to train and maintain militias?
2nd amendment:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Thomas Jefferson:
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
The constitution doesn't authorize a standing army. It only authorizes a navy. The constitution allows the government to support an raise armies but only to maintain a navy.
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Notice the flow. Congress can declare war. At that time congress can raise an army, but the appropriation should only be for 2 years. In other words wars should be short. No AUMF for some nebulous ongoing "global war on terror." Congress prescribes how the militia should be trained. Congress can provide money for that training, arming and organizing. The states choose the officers and actually are in charge of the militia training. In an emergency Congress, after declaring war, can call up the militia from the states and then raise additional armies as necessary. Then, and only then, does the president become commander in chief of the militia and the armies that have now been raised. The Navy is maintained all along and the President is always commander in chief of the Navy. (That's why the marines can legal be sent in to fight without an act of war. But the marines should be assigned to Navy ships and not allowed to grow into what is in effect a standing army.)
That's how you have and maintain freedom. That's how we the Department of Defense really becomes about defense and not about offensive empire building. The militia train to defend their home turf. You live in Alaska you train to fight in the snow. You live in Louisiana you train to fight in the swamp. If you live in an American desert you train to fight in an American desert, not an Iraqi desert.
If you have a standing army the liars-in-chief always think of a way to use them. When wanting to get the U.S. involved in Bosnia, Madeline Albright said this to a general who was resistant to the idea. "What good is a military if we aren't going to use it?" SMH! Soldiers aren't pieces on a chessboard to sacrifice in you bat guano crazy quest for global domination. They are people an should only be deployed in the actual defense of this nation. And "defending America's interests abroad" doesn't count. But Madwoman Madeline doesn't care about human life anyway.
People like her are the reason this country should not have a standing army. It's not constitutional. Republicans will ask "Where is medicare in the constitution" while ignoring the fact that standing armies are not allowed by the constitution.
