(no subject)
When you look through the archaic phrasing of the quote below, its about the same damn thing happening today that happened to our Forefathers leading up to and during the Revolution! The Brits drew their colonies into their fight with the French during the 100 Years War, thus allowing them to put an army on American soil to enforce the taxation that paid off the debt incurred during those wars. And during the Revolution, the Brits stationed mercenaries among us and used them against the Continental Army. The Iraqis are trying to throw Blackwater out of Iraq, but our government is awarding them contracts to pursue the War on Drugs. Will they be used domestically? What then? Hmm....
"It is pretended we are in hazard of being invaded by a powerful enemy; shall we therefore destroy our government? What is it then that we would defend? Is it our persons, by the ruin of our government? in what then shall we be gainers? In saving our lives by the loss of our liberties?...I would fain know, if there be any other way of making a prince absolute, than by allowing him a standing army: if by it all princes have not been made absolute; if without it, any. Whether our enemies shall conquer us is uncertain; but whether standing armies will enslave us, neither reason nor experience will suffer us to doubt. It is therefore evident that no pretense of danger from abroad can be an argument to keep up standing armies or any mercenary forces."
- Andrew Fletcher, A Discourse of Government With Relation to Militias [1698]
"It is pretended we are in hazard of being invaded by a powerful enemy; shall we therefore destroy our government? What is it then that we would defend? Is it our persons, by the ruin of our government? in what then shall we be gainers? In saving our lives by the loss of our liberties?...I would fain know, if there be any other way of making a prince absolute, than by allowing him a standing army: if by it all princes have not been made absolute; if without it, any. Whether our enemies shall conquer us is uncertain; but whether standing armies will enslave us, neither reason nor experience will suffer us to doubt. It is therefore evident that no pretense of danger from abroad can be an argument to keep up standing armies or any mercenary forces."
- Andrew Fletcher, A Discourse of Government With Relation to Militias [1698]