Militia

associated with "wacko" separatists, but really refers to an army of citizens.

See Glenn Reynolds 1999 review of Gary Hart's The Minute Man: Restoring an Army of the People ISBN:0684838095 - The Framers of our US Constitution had a fear of standing armies, and of governments backed by them, that one legal scholar calls "almost hysterical." A Standing Army of Professional-s, they were sure, would eventually do one of two things: agitate for foreign military adventures (War On Iraq) to keep itself employed, or turn against its civilian masters (Patriot Act) to create a military dictatorship. To these two political threats they added a third, moral danger: that citizens used to relying on professionals for the defense of their liberties would come to take their Freedom lightly. The Framers' solution was the militia, an armed body that included all citizens qualified to vote... Telling people to show up at the federal building "or else" may be conscription, but telling those same people to show up at the federal building "and bring lots of guns and ammunition" isn't likely to promote tyranny.


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