These monarchs also used their armies to quell any dissent amongst the citizenry.  People were determined to see that such use did not happen here. 

The Founders who wrote the Constitution bound the hands of the President by making him the civilian head of the military, but not giving him the power to go to war. For that, only the Congress could declare war on someone else.   

Further, ONLY a Navy was authorized.  NO standing Army was allowed!  Any Army could exist for NO MORE THAN two years, without funding reauthorization from the Congress.  And we have had that reauthorization ever since.  Imagine that … one of the fears of the populace was that a standing army would be used to take over the government and enslave them.  So as a sop, the framers of the Constitution in effect said, “Do not worry.  We will add a provision that any army formed can only exist for two years.  Not enough time for alliances to form among the ranks, and for officers to contemplate overthrowing the government.”   

The idea pre-Constitution was that a standing army would only form in times of war.  It was the local militias, composed of citizen soldiers that would exist permanently.  This may have been the first part of the Constitution to be violated.  And the violation occurred immediately.  Such violations would happen more frequently as time passed, and the government found a provision of the Constitution inconvenient. 

This gave the President, the force he needed to quell any internal disrespect to his or Congress’ authority.  And the troops have been used ever since … though in the last Century or so, we now have seen further use of troops in the formation of each State’s National Guard, State police, and expanded County and local police forces.  Further these forces have changed from a Peace officer role to a law enforcement roles (nuances will be discussed in “Law Enforcement” on the web site).  The most recent disturbing trends are to federalize the Guard, and to federalize the police, as well as increase the number of (well) armed (and militarized) federal officers (which is not authorized by the Constitution) of civilian executive agencies.   

Other anti-war efforts were the prohibition of involuntary servitude without conviction, to prevent people from being pressed (drafted) into military service, the maintenance of well armed civilian militias (which could be used to enforce laws passed by Congress and to suppress insurrections), the use of Marks and Reprisals, which Congress could authorize private mercenaries to either seize or sink other country’s Naval vessels or trouble makers in other countries.   

There were some nasty encounters between government troops and its citizenry over the past two hundred and fifty years, but surprisingly less than the Founders might have expected (or desired).  The army was mainly used to force aboriginal Americans  off of their lands, for colonist expansion.  At some point when the nation had filled out its geography, this conquering of the American Indian tribes went full throttle, until all Indian Nations were finally conquered.  Along the way, every treaty signed between the Indian Nations and the United States was broken by the government when it became inconvenient (i.e., the federal government wanted their lands again). 

Manifest destiny was the cry.  And when all the nation was conquered, ambitious men started looking for more territory to conquer.  Hail Cesar!  They looked south, toward the Central and Southern Americas, and the Caribbean islands.  The wars of conquest started with the Spanish American war(s) of the 1890’s.  Puppet dictatorships became our specialty, as we grabbed resources present in other nations.  And we traveled the globe, invading China, and Africa, including Northern Africa (the Middle East).  We were determined to secure our own slice of the Empire pie. 

Our country had never been attacked since 1812 (excluding Mexican-American border disputes), until the Japanese bombed the U.S. military bases in our territory of Hawaii to start our entry into World War Two.  This was the beginning of a new age for our nation.  When the war was over, the British Empire was gone, and two new superpowers existed, the United States and the Soviet Union.  The Cold War had begun.  Though the only thing that made the Soviet Union a superpower was its huge slave population and nukes. 

The “fight” of communism would become the excuse to keep America, not only under continuous military expansion and drill, but the excuse needed to expand the fascism that had pervaded America.  The military industrial complex had been born, in which a handful of industries were constantly geared up for war.  These industries sucked trillions of dollars out of the pockets of the taxpayers (and therefore the economy), promised to build every device they could imagine to solve problems not yet conceived, salivated over every hostility worldwide since it meant they could sell their wares, and allowed them to bribe government officials throughout the world to continue sales and contracts.  

The tax money all went towards combating the "red menace," and was very profitable except to the taxpayer.  During this time, the War Department was given a new name, the Defense Department. But in reality, it was now a War department. Looking to start wars, escalate wars, and perpetuate wars.  Worse, because of the threat of nuclear warfare, devastating a country within 30 minutes in a surprise attack, the Congress, and the populace got used to a President having "authority" to conduct war without a declaration of war. Of course, ostensibly, it was to respond to an attack, and the President was to consult Congress for approval as soon as practical.  Here began the undeclared wars (“police actions”) in Korea, Vietnam, etc.  Unpopular wars, because a few men wanted to go to war for profit, and the sons and wallets of taxpayers were going to help them do it, for a war whose reasons were poorly explained. 

Then the worse thing that could happen to a “Defense” Department happened… they won the war!    

Suddenly, the Soviet threat was gone overnight.  Congressmen leaped with joy at the prospects of a "Peace Dividend.”  Of course this did not mean lowering your taxes from a rate of 50% to the old 1950’s days when it was under 4%. No sir.  They meant they could now spend incredible gobs of money on their profitable pet projects to get themselves re-elected. 

The Defense Department, meanwhile, like every government agency, not enjoying the disastrous rewards of "mission accomplished" scrambled for a new boogieman, and a new mission, before they lost funding and prestige.  Yes, the evil Chinese!  No, we need them to manufacture our uniforms.  Okay, free the slaves of Africa! Does anyone care about Africa? … no seriously, I know it is cruel, and the USA bears a good portion of the blame for the post-European slavery, post-Colonialism destruction of Africa, but does anyone really care?  This did not resonate.  But finally four hijacked airliners, gave the military a new mission … the War on Terrorism.   The CIA's Osama bin Laden came through.

So now all sorts of technology is swinging into action to combat terrorism.  We are threatening, invading and attacking other countries.  The bulk of this technology can be directed against our civilian population as well, and so it is.  Surveillance is the word.  Security our mantra. We must sacrifice our freedom to preserve our freedom.  A very old song, but it still works all too well. 

So there you have it.  No nation on the Earth, posses a threat of credibly being able to invade us, except for Canada and Mexico.  And I do not lose sleep over this.  No nation in the world can credibly attack us, with the exception of Russia and China.  In the latter case, annihilation would be lopsided, and in the case of Russia, a mutual exchange is no longer assured.  Besides which, why would they want to? … unless we are poking our noses into their business.   So all of our troops could now come home from the over 130 countries in the world they are now deployed.  But no!  We may not need them to defend our country, but politicians need them to get aggressive with many countries.

But by poking our noses into the business of many nations, taking sides of either the government, or anti-government groups, we give reason for other groups diametrically opposed to attack us (terrorism) for our support of their enemies.  While these attacks will produce little overall damage, at most killing a few thousand Americans at a time (sorry, but to government this is acceptable collateral damage), those responsible in the government not only face little risk from such an attack, they eagerly anticipate such attacks and stand by to profit from them with pre-written legislation to rush through Congress; funding new programs, giving them new powers, restricting more freedom and intruding into your business.   Even better, they can bomb the "terrorists," making sure that those innocents nearby who survive to bury their loved ones now seek revenge.  This is why for every terrorist the U.S. kills, four more are created to take their place.  Your government is bin Laden's biggest recruiter.

Wake up America.  The War is OVER.  It is time to roll back your armies from around the world, and pocket your reward.  It is time to make your military a defensive military, and the world your laissez faire market place.