Role of American Citizen in Government

Scrutinize the Executive Branch – The Charge for the Legislative Branch: Part 1

In what has become typical and usual, the following stories arrive:

“From 2019 to 2021, Ira Westbrook of Bozeman, Montana, served as the fiduciary of an elderly relative who had suffered a stroke and became disabled. A multi-agency investigation found that, during these 16 months, Westbrook stole more than $57,000 in Social Security and VA benefits and used the stolen funds to purchase personal items, including a Jeep Wrangler, a travel trailer, and other day-to-day expenses.”

“From 2016 until 2018, Sloane Signal-Debose of Slidell, Louisiana, served as the fiduciary of a veteran who needed assistance managing his finances. During that time, she took more than $100,000 from the veteran’s accounts, used it as the down payment on a home in her name, and used additional funds from the veteran to pay contractors working on the home. Signal-Debose then submitted false records to VA to hide her misuse of the veteran’s funds. The former fiduciary pleaded guilty to misappropriating funds and faces up to five years in federal prison. The VA OIG conducted this investigation.”

“In 2013, Brandi Goldman of Jonesboro, Arkansas, was married to a US Army reservist who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a service-connected accident. As a result of this injury, her husband had many serious physical challenges, and Goldman was appointed as his guardian and fiduciary. Between April 2015 and November 2017, Goldman received more than $258,600 in VA disability payments and $36,000 in Social Security payments. During that timeframe, she withdrew close to $200,000 in cash and accrued about $900 in ATM and overdraft fees. Goldman admitted to spending much cash to fund her methamphetamine habit, spending $150 on methamphetamine two to three times per week. She also admitted that five other people moved into the residence with her and her husband, none of whom paid rent or contributed to expenses, some of whom she regularly gave cash to. She also admitted to paying $68,000 in cash for another home, furnishings for the home, multiple vehicles, and a motor home. Goldman was sentenced to 20 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $143,000 in restitution after previously pleading guilty to misappropriation by a fiduciary. The VA OIG and Social Security Administration OIG conducted the investigation.”

Why are these stories of particular interest to the supreme legislative body in the United States of America? The executive branch has refused to police its branch of government, and crimes like this have become all too familiar. You, the Congressional bodies of these the United States, are duty-bound and sworn to perform two jobs, scrutinize the executive branch (harshly when necessary), and write laws. You have recently failed too often in monitoring the executive branch, and this story perfectly represents what happens when the executive branch is not examined minutely! Tell the US Public who put you in elected office, how these crimes continue and what programs and processes they MUST change to prevent them in the future.

By pleading for the legislative branch to scrutinize and audit the executive branch minutely, I am in no way condoning or diminishing the personal accountability of those who committed crimes. These three examples are from the October and November press releases of 2022. The widespread ability to commit fraud is a symptom of a more significant problem at the VA. Their leaders have consistently been able to boondoggle, evade, and profit from abusing veterans through designed incompetence, criminal neglect, and obtuse actions. When will Congressional leaders take action to clean up the Federal Government in general and the VA specifically?

The US House of Representatives holds the purse strings for the executive branch; use this leverage to claw back your powers and authority to balance the Federal Government and demand accountability from those empowered to lead their designated branches of the executive branch of government. Let’s talk about patterns; in less than 45 days, three cases of fiduciary fraud were closed, and the speed of closing these cases has escalated throughout 2022. The American people will see more, not less, of these fraudsters being underreported by the US Media before the year ends.

Shifting slightly, let’s talk about government employees and the need for more scrutiny of the executive branch.

“Bruce Minor, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to two years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $462,256 in restitution for his scheme to embezzle money from the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. Between December 2015 and September 2019, Minor, a former travel clerk, created fraudulent travel reimbursement claims in the names of at least three other VA medical center employees. He then diverted the funds into bank accounts he controlled. The VA OIG investigated this case.”

“Kyhati Undavia, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. From December 2012 to December 2018, Undavia hired employees to market Memorial Pharmacy, which she controlled and operated, to physicians as a place to submit compounded drug prescriptions. Instead of providing prescriptions directly to the patients who could select a pharmacy of their choice, physicians sent the prescriptions directly to Memorial Pharmacy. Then, Undavia paid the physicians illegal kickbacks for the prescriptions. Beneficiaries often received medicated creams that they did not need or want. Undavia received approximately $22 million from TRICARE, Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, and CHAMPVA for the prescriptions.”

These stories also fall into the same timeframe mentioned above. But, they are not the only stories from 2022 where VA employees conducted long-term fraud for personal profit. Here’s the rub: hundreds of additional employees knew of these schemes, were probably running their schemes, and haven’t been caught, and nothing is being done by VA leadership to cease the fraud and abuse of veterans by VA employees. There is a culture of corruption at the VA, long hidden by scheming and abusive leaders and condoned by previous Congresses, that must be stopped! What will you, the congressional leaders of the United States, do to halt this insanity, demand personal accountability, and clean house of the designed incompetence that allows these criminal activities to flourish? The American People are waiting!

The following site holds press releases for the VA specifically, but investigations often cross into Social Security, the Department of Defense, state investigatory bodies, the FBI, and more. Suppose nothing else is learned from only perusing this site, that more scrutiny needs to be done to every single department of the executive branch. In that case, we, the American People, might count ourselves lucky. However, this is not the case. The rot from poor leadership, criminal mismanagement, and supreme dereliction of duty is etched deeply into the workings of the executive branch operations, and more needs additional discussion.

03 November 2022, the VA-OIG released a report titled, “VHA Progressed in the Follow-Up of Canceled Appointments during the Pandemic but Could Use Additional Oversight Metrics.” The report only covers the time from 2020 to the present, and regular readers know that the VA has been failing on every measurable metric for over a decade. To couch in politically correct non-threatening jargon, how designed incompetence continues to hamper and hinder is not surprising. That the current Congress has bought the excuses hook, line, and sinker, from the inept VA leadership, was not surprising either. This article is about the future, and the next Congress MUST take immediate and direct action to root cause and improve VA performance!

31 October 2022, the VA-OIG released the following: “Review of VA’s Staffing and Vacancy Reporting under the MISSION Act of 2018.” This is a report about how the VA continues failing to report improvements in hiring practices to the legislative branch. The report details VA leadership’s continued failures through designed incompetence. Tell me, if you were in charge of a report for your business that is essential to receiving funding, would you keep your job if, from 2018 to the present, you still cannot report what is happening and why and be held personally accountable for a report to a legislative body? Don’t take my word for it; read the report, and be careful of the temperature of your blood boiling!

Unfortunately, this behavior is the normal operating procedure for the VA. The same can be easily and quickly witnessed in every other Federal Department of the US Government under the executive branch. As the legislative branch, you are duty-bound to investigate and demand compliance in a timely manner. Where have you been; more importantly, will you allow these problems to continue or kill them?

Do you doubt designed incompetence is a standard operating procedure? Let’s discuss another part of the MISSION Act of 2018 that the VA-OIG recently reported on, “Additional Actions Needed to Fully Implement and Assess Impact of the Patient Referral Coordination Initiative,” dated 27 October 2022. The Referral Coordination Initiative (RCI) is a program to improve timely access to care using community providers. RCI sounds good in theory, but as usual, in the practical application, the program is full of self-serving charlatans, unsupervised or poorly supervised people, weak policies and procedures, and zero accountability! Plus, when the veteran runs into problems with local providers, reporting these problems is so time-consuming as to be ineffectual at best!

A personal example that was reported to the VA when it happened, and nothing was done but to issue the provider a check. Dr. Herekar, Neurologist, clinic: Advanced Neurology Epilepsy & Sleep Center, El Paso, Texas. A VA Primary Care Provider wrote to my employer on VA Letterhead with a wet signature, declaring my inability to wear a mask. Dr. Herekar’s office was presented with this letter and hassled me before both appointments for not wearing a mask, becoming hostile, argumentative, and a nuisance over the mask issue, even after I complied with putting on a face shield. 23 September 2021, over Facebook messenger, I was informed that I would be invited to find a different provider due to my refusal to wear a mask. Imagine that; Facebook Messenger became the medium of choice for ending a patient’s relationship with a medical provider. What did the VA tell me to do; file endless paperwork with TRICARE and then disregard the problem’s urgency. Worse, the medical care for the neurological issues decreased, and I have had to wait, sit, and hope for future consideration and possible treatment. Does this sound like an aberration; it is, unfortunately not!

The VA Leadership realized if community care succeeds, they lose power to control the destiny of veterans. Thus, they implemented the MISSION Act of 2018 with such feet dragging, designing incompetence into every facet of the program, to promote more complaints to Congress, and hopefully to squash the MISSION Act of 2018 and end community care. 07 November 2022, while waiting to speak to representatives of Community Care Services at the VA Out Patient Clinic in EL Paso, the veteran being served ahead of me was told, “The provider does not fax documents, so you will need to go to the provider, and then walk the paperwork back to us.”

The normalcy of reporting providers not submitting paperwork was beyond the pale. Not having secure document transfer processes between the VA and local providers is technically abysmal and unacceptable. Are we in the 1990s, where the cream of technology is sending and receiving a fax? The designed incompetence includes Luddite-like technical disciplines, and the VA_OIG and the Congress should be furious; I know I am!

Before the MISSION Act of 2018, I was making 5 and 6 trips to local providers to retrieve hard copies of medical records, going to the VA Records office, submitting the documents, and then following up 7-14 days later to find out I had to repeat this process as my VA Providers still had not received the records of my interactions with community providers. Interestingly, in 2020 I discovered the treatment records still had not been submitted from community providers into my VA eHealth Record, from treatment received from 2012-2016. Is the pattern of designed incompetence clearer? Is the VA Leadeship’s intransigence more apparent? How about the fraud, waste, and abuse of VA resources?

You, the congressional leaders, must take immediate action, not wait, not hold hearings, concrete action to demand compliance from the executive branch leaders to the congressional leaders who are held accountable to the citizens. America is a representative republic, and it is time the bureaucrats learned the citizens are awake and interested. You, the congressional leaders, are the people’s tool for correcting government abuses; you have two years to show you are dedicated to that principle, or you will be replaced!

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Jacob and Esau – The Perils of Government; An Analogy

Bobblehead Doll Several books of scripture, in multiple religions, record the story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau are twins male children of Isaac and Rebekah. The boys were competitors for their entire lives. Esau acts outside his parent’s wishes in marriage, sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pottage (stew or beans; something cooked in a pot), and late in life is reconciled to Jacob even though his people continue to have animosity towards Jacob’s people to this day. While the story of these twin brothers remains useful to those in religion and teaches several morals of importance, Jacob and Esau represent a classic tale of why government should be limited in size and scope.

Genesis 27, Old Testament, contains the story of how Jacob obtains the birthright blessing, which had been sold to him by Esau for the aforementioned bowl of pottage. Consider with me what would have happened if the same bloated government we have right now had meddled in the affairs of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. The cost of meddling in the internal family affairs, the government would have taken 40% inheritance tax. Esau would have always had the government as a millstone and ready excuse for not reconciling with Jacob, and lawyers and government officials would have further sundered the family.

Remember this, for it has importance in the following discussion, the government does not grant freedom, EVER! As described and stated in the US Constitution and US Bill of Rights, freedom comes from a power higher than government, and government was only, ever, instituted for the benefit of man. Ask yourself, is your government benefitting you? Plato 2

I guarantee the answer is no; regardless of the political spectrum, you prefer. Why, because the government should not be exerting powers in areas that control or curtail the freedoms of the people. Esau never valued his birthright, so selling it was easy, and a bowl of pottage was a rich reward for something he did not value.

How expensive is government-funded medical treatment? Some will claim, but those receiving treatment never see a bill; really? Costs are more than merely a statement representing the need to pay money. What about the loss of privacy? What about the loss of freedom to choose what treatments and providers are best for you? What about the loss of innovation to the thumb of oppression from the government? What about the loss of self-reliance and the health benefits of independence? What about the destruction of your community and the connections people felt with and pride for community hospitals? What was lost when the medical community forced, through the abuse of government intervention, the knowledge of herbs for the sterility of Big Pharmaceutical drugs?

For the hope of a prosperous retirement, what was sold; freedom and money in the now. Yet, one should ask, where does the government get the power to take money, then give it back at some future point? Except, how many of those government retirement Ponzi Schemes are fully funded, even with all the money flowing in? The answer is as empty as Esau’s bowl. Still, the government continues to steal money through forced taxation and purchase the hopes and liberties of citizens for that hoped-for bowl of pottage, prosperity in retirement. Plato 3

For the hope of reducing poverty, the government purchased a class of people whom they could abuse and ignite for political gain anytime they want or desire. To create this aggrieved class of people, the government took over welfare programs, bought people with bread and circuses, asked them to stay in government houses, live on government food, enjoy government-provided entertainment, etc. What was sold for this bowl of pottage; liberty, potential, freedom, upward mobility financially, safety and security, and hope. What has been the consequences of this purchase; a permanently aggrieved class of people who look longingly at another’s possessions and desire them through theft because hard work is racist, demoralizing, and stops the government handouts. Worse, the government had to grow in power and size to “manage” this class of people, creating those with six-digit salaries to rub the purchased people’s faces in the irony of what was lost in the purchase.

The United States has been waging a “War on Drugs,” almost since its founding. The government considers one drug “good,” mainly due to the ease of controlling it for taxation purposes, and another drug “bad.” Yet, how successful has it been in this “war?” Not at all, and its failures are increasing year-over-year, even while new methods of taxation are being invented to manage “legal drugs.”

Alcohol in the United States has had a history of acceptance, tolerance, legal banning, and returned to tolerance and acceptance, all through human desires, abuse of government powers, and the need for tax revenue. Sin taxes, the class of tax used to allow a citizen government approval to get drunk, stoned, or inject poison into their bodies, are among the highest taxes in America. Yet, the more the taxes increase, the more people want these products, and the more the government wants people to use these products, for we see the purchase of something transitory using something highly precious to barter. What is more precious than time and physical health, and what is purchased but something that can only temporarily ease pain or provide relief at best. Apathy

Tobacco has been a favorite drug of the government for its population to enjoy, pushing the popularity of the drug even while condemning and restricting how, when, where the drug can be enjoyed. Tobacco farmers have played vital roles in American history, and the product has been a significant cash crop for government revenue. Have you ever wondered where the money and research facilities originate to improve cigarette addiction? Have you ever considered where the marketing materials originated to pitch the health benefits of smoking? Do you realize that government is the biggest provider of money for research and marketing purposes? Never forget the government has become flush with cash, pushing tobacco, regulating tobacco, and licensing tobacco. Now ask yourself, why would the government give on the one hand and take on the other, because it is making money with both hands as people sell something precious for something valueless and transitory.

Do people get injured and need assistance; yes, but the government is never the answer to provide help. Are there those who are trying to thrive and escape poverty; yes, but the government is never the answer to providing help. A truth from time immemorial, governments do not produce anything; thus, the government must first take through legalized theft, taxation, and legal abuse to give to someone else. Every representative government must walk a balancing act between what a government is and what responsibilities a government must shoulder. Except, how many continue to make Esau’s mistake and sell something incredibly precious for something transitory and essentially valueless?

Worse, evaluate the consequences of allowing the purchase to occur. First, the seller experiences buyer’s remorse, anger, jealousy, regret, and the government making the purchase laughs, making the bitterness of the sell more poignant. Second, the seller needs an outlet for this buyer’s remorse. In an effort to continue to purchase while appeasing, the government allows the seller to go destroy the property and goods of another less politically connected person and calls this social justice. Third, the abused class of people who are not politically affiliated or are political rivals, whose property is being destroyed, looks on, and envy, malice, and contempt are bred, which furthers the goals and desires of the government. The Duty of Americans

Esau took a long time to be reconciled to Jacob, but it first required admitting that he had sold his birthright (something of great value) for something transitory and valueless (food). Jacob and Esau’s story remains of great importance and a cautionary tale, especially for understanding why government needs to be smaller, less involved, and less able to abuse the citizenry. For too long, the governments worldwide have either abused their powers to purchase or been established as a tyrannical and oppressive government. Either way, the government is the problem, and the answer continues to be the same, curb the government!

Knowledge Check! If COVID has taught the populations of the earth anything, let us learn this valuable lesson, the government is the problem, not the solution! The size of government is oppression, the cost of government is theft, and the loss of precious freedom and liberty for transitory and valueless gifts or benefits which come at too high a price in treasure and other precious resources. We, the owners and the abused of government, must change how we think and feel about the role of government before all is lost to the ever-hungry maw of government and self-interests!

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

NO MORE BS: Come, Let Us Reason Together – Chapter 5

Bait & Switch In Chapters 2 and 3 of this series, the discussion regarding money and the $350 Billion dollars COVID relief monies were discussed. As this is a continuing discussion, I would encourage you to read those missives as well for a fuller understanding of the principles being discussed. Regardless, several facts remain pertinent:

1. 1. The states accepting this money will be bound to spend it in a manner the Federal Government specifies.
  2. The money being given to the states as a “stimulus for COVID economic growth,” will not spur anything but inflation and poor fiscal policies.
  3. The strings attached to this money are a noose on individual state economic growth long after the deadline to spend the money (31 December 2026) comes and goes.

Doherty (2021) writing for the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) provides some clarity on the Treasury Department’s rules and regulations regarding this $350 Billion albatross being forced down the state’s throats. The funds being discussed originate in the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Act, and the Treasury Department has released operational guidance to the states and cities receiving the funds. Never forget, while the Treasury Department claims there is an algorithm for sharing the money, politics and political connections will be the final determinant in who receives how much of the funds being doled out.

The Duty of Americans Pensions are the first point of discussion as to where these funds can go; never forget, pensions remain the largest single expense for states in the United States. Those bloated governmental salaries, negotiated by unions, and put in place by legislative fiat, keep the taxpayer on the hook for poor financial planning long after the initial beneficiaries of the union retirement pyramid scheme and dead and buried. Read carefully the pension data provided by USAToday for a full and detailed discussion on just how big the pension problem is for the states of the United States.

Millstone of Designed Incompetence Just as important, look at the total number of government workers as a share of the total workforce, and you will discover just how big your state and local governments have become. For example, two states selected at random from the 50-state list, New Jersey, and New Mexico are displayed below, and sourced from the article:

New Jersey

Funded ratio: 38.4%
Total pension shortfall: $130.7 billion shortfall (3rd largest)
Gov’t workers as share of total workforce: 13.3% (20th lowest)
Avg. annual payout per public retiree: $32,148 (9th highest)

New Mexico

Funded ratio: 61%
Total pension shortfall: $18.2 billion shortfall (18th largest)
Gov’t workers as share of total workforce: 18.6% (4th highest)
Avg. annual payout per public retiree: $20,907 (15th lowest)

Apathy Consider New Jersey for a moment, if you met 100 new people in one day, more than 1/10^th of those met will work for the state or local government in some capacity, and those 11 people are earning $32,148 taxpayer paid dollars a year for being retired. Worse, New Jersey is kiting checks on your children’s future to the tune of $130.7 Billion dollars every year. Raising taxes cannot help closing the funding gap in the pension. Want more news, the majority of those retired are not living in New Jersey, so all those taxpayer monies are not being recouped in sales taxes, property taxes, and other taxes.

Yet, the Federal Government just borrowed $1.9 Trillion to give the states $350 Billion, and the monies provided will not even pay a years’ worth of pension payments in most cases. Let alone pay for all the other accounts that have been stripped to pay for the pension gap. For example, infrastructure (Roads, Bridges, Highways, Broadband Internet, the Electrical Grid, etc.), Teachers, Community Colleges, Unemployment Insurance, Water and Wastewater Treatment facilities, and Health and Human Services, just to name a few cash strapped state programs.

Plato 2 A few days ago, I was discussing broadband Internet grids, and there susceptibility to failure with people who work for a major Internet Service Provider. In Umatilla County, as an example, the Internet either currently, or previously, went down nightly for 5-6 hours at a time. Read the outage reports and you will find regular large geographic areas of the country suffering with Internet latency and connectivity issues. Yet, your state legislators must focus not upon the potholes damaging your car, not upon shaky bridges and overpasses prone to failure, but upon pensions for retirees. All due to labor unions and promises that should never have been made in the first place!

Pensions are the number one reason I, personally, think that government workers should not be able to unionize, and that the government pensions should be as rigidly controlled as the private sectors pensions. Yet, the inverse is true, unions growing in the public sector, shrinking in the private sector, and the taxpayer is left with the bill. Since the government can continue to kite checks, our children’s great grandchildren are already up to their necks in debt that is unsustainable.

Plato 3 Come, let us reason together for solutions that actually work. I offer below the following suggestions, feel free to agree, disagree, add more, and discuss openly in the comments. We, the owners of government, must re-take control of the government, and to do so, we must communicate and act.

1. 1. Reduce the size of government immediately to the size posted on 31 December 1999. This is an immediate and interim step. To be followed by a position by position, value discussion, where technological solutions to replace workers is decided. Eventually culling government size back to a Pre-1930’s level.
  2. Automate as many functions as possible. The processes of how government function are necessarily complicated to justify a jobs program. This culture of complication must cease forthwith, the processes cleared of unnecessary complications, and streamlined to allow for automation of the processes.
  3. Take the pensions and eradicate the unions. Privatize pensions should be the letter of the law for all, public and private sector employees. Thus, creating a new market and investment industry.
  4. Privatize public maintenance of roads, the fuel taxes are sufficient to pay for this and improve road maintenance immediately.
  5. Privatize wastewater and water generation and distribution.
  6. Privatize and deregulate all utilities, allowing for maximum competition, and ending the private geographic monopolies the tech companies and Internet providers have established.
  7. Privatize K-12 and Community Colleges changing the pay structures for teachers and reducing the “staff” positions. Get focused on delivering a product, the product is an educated student who can read, write, and do math, thinking logically, and critically. This means ending the surplus of standardized tests and putting the teacher in charge of the classroom.

Patriotism Never Give Up! Not every child should be forced into college. Not every job requires a college degree. Opening the community colleges produces certified, trained, and non-debt laden students that are workforce ready. Workforce ready means able, willing, and skilled in working, be that in academia for a degree, or in the workforce as a tradesman the requirement is the same and the distinction needs removed from the leaders of K-12 educational leadership.

The aim and the intent of all government programs is to get out of the way and let people act as they think best for themselves and their families. Not pushing children to college for a degree and a life of debt payments. Not forcing them into the military because you are too lazy to teach them how to read, write, think, and speak. Not forcing them into poverty to support a government jobs program. The government will not go “quietly into that dark night.” But, with enough insistence the government we currently know can be cut, reduced, and forced to retreat. We, the citizens, need to take back our government through the ballot box, through the judicial branch, and through demanding change in the legislative and executive branches at all levels of the government.

Knowledge Check! First step, believe it is possible; live like it has already occurred. Second step, join others to raise the cry and demand the changes. Third, support only candidates who already live fiscally proper, morally upright, and ethically dedicated. Fourth, never give up! Never lose focus, and never relinquish the moral high ground for a bowl of pottage or 30 pieces of silver.

The Role of the Military in American Society – Knowing the Paradigms

Military Crests According to the US Constitution, the President is the Commander in Chief of all the US Military branches including the National Guard and Coast Guard. Article II of the U.S. Constitution endows the President with this power. Article I of the Constitution gives the U.S. Congress the power to declare war; a purposeful separation of powers instituted by the Founding Fathers that underscored a fear of large standing armies and their potential to impede a free and republican society. The term “reserve component” collectively refers to two organizations—the Reserves and the National Guard. The Reserves are a Federal reserve force that augments the active component as personnel requirements dictate.

The reserve force is controlled by the US President and can be mobilized to meet the Federal Government’s needs. The purpose of the reserves is to provide trained persons, available for active duty, in time of war and national emergency, and to fill the ranks of active forces when the mission demands.

The National Guard has two missions—a Federal mission and a State mission. The Guard’s primary mission is to support the States in times of natural and human-made disasters. Guard units in each state can be mobilized by the Governor to provide support within the state or, under certain conditions, across state lines. This occurs when the Governor declares a state of emergency following civil unrest or natural disaster. The U.S. Constitution places control of the National Guard firmly in the hands of the Governors of each state, there are legal provisions that allow the President to mobilize National Guard units for Federal service. The National Guard can be mobilized in whole or in part to support the nation in times of emergency, in response to national disasters, or in times of war. The State Governors are subservient to the US President, and the Secretary of Defense, but answer as the Commander in Chief for the National Guard in their states.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the use of U.S. Armed Forces in law enforcement activities on U.S. soil, except for the purpose of putting down rebellions or enforcing constitutional rights if state authorities fail to do so. The President can invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and go above a Governor’s head to activate National Guard troops if the Commander in Chief believes the response requires this action. For example, school desegregation in 1957 following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, and again in 1992 during the riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers charged with beating Rodney King.

Where the role of the military is concerned, J. Pournelle and S. M. Stirling wrote a series of books that when combined form the compendium “The Prince” (Baen Books). The stories discuss the role of government and the role of the military in government as a tool. When things get screwed up enough, the military is forced to be the janitor. The military is never the best solution, as the military solution is akin to the largest hammer in the toolbox for correcting societal behavior. The military is not a scalpel, you cannot perform surgery with a bomb. Thus, there are always innocent casualties when the military option is exercised, much to the chagrin and disappointment of the citizen population on the receiving end of the military action.

The US Constitution as originally drafted provided the American people the US House of Representatives as the house of the people. The governors of the individual states received their own house as a means of keeping control of the Federal Government, the Senate. The US Constitution was drafted to see the American Citizen on top of, and control, all the government entities with the Federal subservient to the states through the Senate, the people through the House, the judicial branch independent of the executive, and the legislative able to exert influence upon the executive. The US Constitution had local governments to protect the citizen from the county, the county to protect the citizen from the state, the states to protect from the Federal, and all governmental bodies controlled by the individual citizen through legislatures. The roles of governors and the power of the Federal Government have been corroded since the passing of the 17^th Amendment 08 April 1913.

The 17^th Amendment changed a constitutional dynamic and in so doing allowed the Federal Government to dominate the states, the House of Representatives lost the consensus of the people, and the growth of the government at all levels has been usurping the rights, freedoms, privileges, and power of the independent citizen for over 100-years. But, before anything can be changed, the American Citizen needs to understand the role of government and the role of the citizen in government.

In discussing the role of the law enforcement official, (part one of this series), is as a community peace monitoring and behavior-modifying official, and tool of government. A Military is a tool of the government, can command behavior changes, and uses force to empower obedience to the Government. Consider the Tiananmen Square incident in China. The local enforcement officials could not command the protests to break up; thus, the military was called in from the borders of China, to break up the demonstrations.

LDS Image The Doctrine and Covenants, Section (Chapter) 134, of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints (2013), provides clarification on the role of the citizen in government and remains a go-to treatise on government, law, and the citizen’s responsibility. It must be recognized that governments are expected to be for the benefit and use of man, to create a good and safe society. Governments use the law to dictate behavior, as agreed upon by the consent of the governed. However, the government cannot and should not violate the “free exercise of conscience, the right, and control of the property, or harm the protection of life.” The civil magistrate (law enforcement officials) are required to restrain crime, punish guilt, but never suppress or interfere with the freedom of the soul.

The role of the citizen in government is to support their governments, showing deference to the officials of that government, not support sedition, rebellion, riots, and so forth as destroy the peace and safety of the society in which they reside. The role of the citizen is to be a vocal participant in their government is provided this opportunity, but nothing allows for, or excuses, rebellion, sedition, tyranny, or other such actions that destroy the common peace of that society. The citizen requesting the laws be changed have a process for changing those laws and should make their petitions known to the government. Hence, if a law enforcement official does something deemed improper, there is a system in place to review the situation and act if warranted. The citizen does not have the right to take matters into their own hands. Informed and proper action is spelled out in law; thus, use the law to improve the conditions, do not become a hooligan, and place yourself outside the protection of the law!

I would like to thank and acknowledge the work of SAMHSA for their contributions to this article. As a precursor to the study of the military in society, I recommend J. Pournelle and S. M. Stirling’s book “The Prince.” Truly this primer should be required reading for anyone desiring to learn the proper role of government, the military, and the association with the citizen. Finally, the treatise on belief as discussed from The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints is a marvelous document that sits beside and compliments my copy of the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other American Founding Documents.

Military Crests

The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the pictures.

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