Training The State's Guns On Their Political Enemies
It’s a sign of the times and of where we’re headed as a country.
In my last post, I closed by explaining how the politicization of the military opens the door to it being weaponized by the Regime against the American public. Yesterday, it was reported that the National School Boards Association (NSBA) considered asking President Joe Biden for the military to protect them from angry parents:
Early demands from the National School Boards Association to the White House included calling for the deployment of the Army National Guard and the military police to monitor school board meetings, according to an early draft letter the organization's independent review released Friday.
In contrast to the final version, the draft of the NSBA letter said, "We ask that the Army National Guard and its Military Police be deployed to certain school districts and related events where students and school personnel have been subjected to acts and threats of violence."
The NSBA had originally sent a letter to President Biden in September 2021 that asked for parents protesting at school board meetings to be federally looked into, saying school officials were facing threats and violence at meetings. Most significantly the NSBA requested in its original letter that parents' actions should be examined under the Patriot Act as "domestic terrorists."
First, let’s establish a few facts. Under Title 10 of the United States Code, the president is legally permitted to place the National Guard of individual states under federal authority in order to accomplish, among other missions, the following:
- Use of Militia and Armed Forces to Enforce Federal Authority. Whenever the
President considers that unlawful obstructions, assemblages, or rebellion make
it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State or
Territory, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State.
This is another statutory exception to Posse Comitatus.- Interference with State and Federal law. The President, by using the militia or
the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as
he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic
violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy. [bold mine]
If, in the president’s judgment, there existed a situation that met the above criteria, he can federalize the National Guard, normally under the control of state governors, and order them to deploy to restore and maintain order. This has happened many times throughout U.S. history and isn’t, as some commentators routinely suggest, beyond the pale.
Given the political sensitivities involved in using the military in a domestic mission, however, had the letter ultimately sent to the White House contained this request, the Biden administration would’ve likely deferred to the respective state governors and place the onus on them to make the decision. Regardless of which party controls these states, it’s not likely troops would’ve been deployed, absent a serious level of threat and violence over a sustained period of time.
The important takeaway from this story is that the Left increasingly views the military as not only friendly to its interests, but can be weaponized against their political enemies. The NSBA cites threats and violence, but, typically, these are considered law enforcement matters. The law permits the use of the military for law enforcement matters within particular constraints, but it’s highly doubtful this specific situation called for military intervention. The only real reason to request military support at a school board meeting is the belief the military possesses the deterrent capabilities (mainly firepower and training) to intimidate the opposition into silence. This is less about creating an atmosphere of safety and security and more about striking fear. There are few things more imposing than seeing military troops standing around, presumably armed.
Though the NSBA elected not to request military support, they did call for parents attending school board meetings to be scrutinized as potential domestic terrorists. On October 4, 2021, the Department of Justice announced:
Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend. These sessions will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response by law enforcement.
In their letter to President Biden, the most egregious instances of threats and violence cited by the NSBA constituted:
These threats or actual acts of violence against our school districts are impacting the delivery of educational services to students and families, as many districts receive federal funds and subsidies for services to millions of students with disabilities, health screenings and supplemental supports for disadvantaged students, child nutrition, broadband connectivity, educator development, school safety activities, career and technical education, and more. School board meetings have been disrupted in California, Florida, Georgia, and other states because of local directives for mask coverings to protect students and educators from COVID-19.
An individual was arrested in Illinois for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct during a school board meeting. During two separate school board meetings in Michigan, an individual yelled a Nazi salute in protest to masking requirements, and another individual prompted the board to call a recess because of opposition to critical race theory.
In New Jersey, Ohio, and other states, anti-mask proponents are inciting chaos during board meetings. In Virginia, an individual was arrested, another man was ticketed for trespassing, and a third person was hurt during a school board meeting discussion distinguishing current curricula from critical race theory and regarding equity issues. In other states including Washington, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Tennessee, school boards have been confronted by angry mobs and forced to end meetings abruptly. A resident in Alabama, who proclaimed himself as “vaccine police,” has called school administrators while filming himself on Facebook Live.
Other groups are posting watchlists against school boards and spreading misinformation that boards are adopting critical race theory curriculum and working to maintain online learning by haphazardly attributing it to COVID-19.
In Ohio, an individual mailed a letter to a school board member labeling the return address on the envelope from a local neighborhood association and then enclosing threatening hate mail from another entity. This correspondence states that, “We are coming after you and all the members on the … BoE [Board of Education].” This hate mail continues by stating, “You are forcing them to wear mask—for no reason in this world other than control. And for that you will pay dearly.” Among other incendiaries, this same threat also calls the school board member a “filthy traitor,” implies loss of pension funds, and labels the school board as Marxist. Earlier this month, a student in Tennessee was mocked during a board meeting for advocating masks in schools after testifying that his grandmother, who was an educator, died because of COVID-19. These threats and acts of violence are affecting our nation’s democracy at the very foundational levels, causing school board members – many who are not paid – to resign immediately and/or discontinue their service after their respective terms. Further, this increasing violence is a clear and present danger to civic participation, in which other citizens who have been contemplating service as either an elected or appointed school board member have reconsidered their decision.
These are certainly unpleasant events. But are these worthy of investigating under the auspices of the Patriot Act? Is calling someone a “filthy traitor” and a “Marxist” and calling for the loss of pension funds really terrorism? Keep in mind, these school boards behave in an absurdly dictatorial fashion, shutting up attendees who read passages from a book available at a school library:
This is hardly an isolated incident. School boards maintain an oppressive rein on what can be said in these meetings, meaning these aren’t exactly places parents can go to freely express concerns and grievances with officials. This is the “speech is violence” doctrine in play. Within this context, the NSBA letter to Biden takes on a whole different tack. If parents or anyone else who has concerns and grievances with local school boards are a threat to public safety and national security, why would anyone dare speak before a school board?
It’s tough to blame anyone who feels the NSBA was trying to create a chilling effect to quash any sort of dissent. Even the NSBA seemed to realize this and apologized, saying “there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter.” Still, the fact the thought crossed their mind, is unsettling. Unleashing the military and the state’s intelligent apparatus on fellow citizens isn’t alien to American history, but it is uncommon, certainly within my generation’s lifetime. It’s a sign of the times and of where we’re headed as a country. This is the stuff you see in countries embroiled in serious turmoil, failing states, or any number of countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East wracked by instability and never-ending warfare.
So forgive me if my writing in this blog seems overly alarmist, as I assure you, it’s based not some crazy thoughts drummed up in my head after reading apocalyptic fiction. They’re based on real-world events, things going on all around us. The atmosphere being created by the Regime is unsettling and is the sort of thing, historically, portends major cataclysms:
A few posts ago, I talked about how NPR was formulating a narrative in which the American Right is effectively playing the role of the Hutus, the clan in Rwanada responsible for a horrific genocide against the rival Tutsi clan. Little about the comparison makes sense, as the Hutus dominated politics by the time the genocide occurred. The ability to commit genocide correlates with the possession of authority and control of institutions, since you need a means of acting on your desires and impulses. But NPR, which speaks to the Regime’s interests, seems to think that mass shootings, like the one that occurred in Buffalo, NY a few weeks ago, represent a blood-lust on the Right comparable to that of the Hutus in Rwanda.
Except for maybe the fact the American Right is predominantly White, who are the racial majority in the U.S., it’s the Left who’s in a position to play the role of the genocidal maniacs in this country. Their ability to reflexively blame any and all problems on Christianity, White supremacy, and anything an inch right of Woke left-wing politics, whether it has any direct relevance in a given context or not, without any substantive resistance, plus the constantly hostile and increasingly threatening rhetoric, is historically indicative of regimes steeling themselves to inflict serious pain on a targeted group of people within their realm.
I sincerely hope anything remotely close to the Rwandan genocide isn’t coming to our shores. Personally, I believe members of the Regime lack the conviction necessary to follow through. You have to really believe in not just the irredeemable evil of The Other, but in the supreme moral righteousness of yourself to the point you believe your existence is threatened by that of The Other. I believe such people exist over there, but not in any significant number to make a difference. The thing about decadence is that it affects all of us. It’s hard to embark on genocidal campaigns when it’s easier just to take to social media, spout your rhetoric, then go out to a bar where you can spout some more rhetoric over drinks.
But if our fellow Americans do see the armed forces and the state’s enforcement and intelligence apparatuses as weapons with which to wage war against their fellow citizens, you can’t help but think this is headed somewhere very bad. After all, no other entity has proven quite as effective at oppressing it’s own people than the state.
Max Remington writes about armed conflict and prepping. Follow him on Twitter at @AgentMax90.
If you liked this post from We're Not At the End, But You Can See It From Here, why not share? If you’re a first-time visitor, please consider subscribing!