February 10, 2004
Quote of the Day
Any standing military force aside from the Navy is unconstitutional. The Constitution provides for funding of armies only two years at a time – even the typical four-year commitment for ROTC cadets and new enlistees is thus illegal, as presumably it could not be known four years in advance that there would still be a standing Army or Air Force. Many things the federal government does today are unconstitutional, but this is no reason not to continue to consider the Constitution an authoritative document.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at February 10, 2004 12:01 PM | TrackBackActually, ROTC is the RESERVE officer training corps. Reserve troops are not a standing army.
Secondly, the constititution was not against a standing army per se, just against a large one. Keeping a full time training cadre in the training corps (i.e. proffs at West Point, Colorado Springs, etc. and ROTC programs everywhere), has always been a recognised necessity. The 'standing army' thing is about keeping large numbers of infantry and other troops on active duty.
Posted by: Mike Lorrey on February 10, 2004 12:50 PM