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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008 - 12:49:26 PM |
According to the Congressional Quarterly and the Chicago Tribune on July 2 in Colorado Springs, Senator Obama said he plans to double the size of the Peace Corps and quadruple the size of Americorps. He also said, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” When I heard this, one question immediately sprang to my mind. What in the world is a civilian national security force? Since when are a free people ready to build an institution that’s as powerful, strong, and as well-funded as our Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force and call it “civilian” or “national,” or for that matter a “security force”? Is this supposed to be some kind of national police force or what? My other reaction was to question the immaculate deception about the meaning of this cryptic passage. As I awaited the usual commentary of “He really didn’t mean what He said,” these thoughts came to my mind.
The Army alone has more than 500,000 personnel. not counting the National Guard or the Reserves. with an annual budget of almost 450 billion dollars. Can our country afford another establishment of this size? Who will command it? Where in the Constitution does the federal government get the right to form something like a home army for security? Many times before, these types of establishments have careened through the pages of history. As a matter of fact, such an establishment existed once before in the history of the English-speaking people. It figured prominently in charge 5 in the indictment against King James II. He was charged with “raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in the time of peace without the consent of Parliament” in the Declaration of Rights (1688), which formed one of the inspirations for our own Declaration of Independence. It was one of the charges justifying the Glorious Revolution, which delivered England from the tyranny of a power-mad king.
Interestingly enough, since inquiries concerning this chilling pronouncement have apparently poured in from many others besides yours truly, Chicago’s post-partisan purveyor of purity in politics has removed the above statement from the transcripts of the July 2 speech as posted on the campaign website, even though video clips of him giving the speech with the line are available on YouTube. Now there’s some of that new openness and transparency we’ve all been looking for.
As of today, the miracle campaign hasn’t responded to requests for clarification. I guess it’s none of our business what a civilian national security force is going to be even though we’ll pay for it and we’ll live with it. I thought we already had an alphabet soup of organizations to protect America domestically like the FBI, DEA, TSA? Is this new cadre going to plunge America into our version of the Cultural Revolution? Will they wave copies of The Audacity of Hope as they lead the way into America’s entitlement paradise? Should our professors and anyone who doesn’t agree with change we can believe in get our dunce hats ready so we can dance around the bonfires burning books that dare to question global warming?
Ultimately my question is, what’s the deal? What kind of a suggestion is this? Why can’t we get any answers or clarifications? Why does this campaign edit transcripts and deny what is readily available in video clips? Did our ward-healer from the Daily machine let the cat out of the bag too soon?
Maybe this kind of rhetoric only bothers me and few other political science wonks, but I really think we all need to get concerned when the presumptive candidate of one of the big box parties starts talking about a civilian national security force that he thinks should rival the military in size and support. I mean, “paid volunteers” is just an oxymoron. This civilian national security force sounds like something out of a George Orwell novel or a history we may be doomed to repeat if we forget to remember. So will it be black shirts or brown?
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