More Stupid Governor Tricks

 

More Stupid Governor Tricks

        Now that Ron DeSantis has sort of launched a presidential campaign might be a good time to revisit some of the things he has done and/or  wants to do here in Florida. Most of America is aware of the efforts he has made to dumb down and "whiten up" the educational system as well as his anti-everything not white, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon, and Fundamentalist bias. But wait, there's more...!         

        Our illustrious governor, Ron DeSantis has, according to our local paper, stated his desire to revive and reactivate a World War Two organization, generally called the “State Guard” which was primarily aimed at civil defense and the possibility of resisting attack from a foreign power.

        The article says (and I quote) “Governor Ron DeSantis, citing a ‘yeoman performance’ by the Florida National Guard says the state’s vaunted 12,000-member air and land forces need some backup.” This might make sense, except for the fact that he is referring to, and desires to fund, a state guard of two hundred volunteers who would supplement the state’s quick responses during hurricanes and similar emergencies. So, get this right: he says our 12,000-member guard would benefit from adding two hundred more volunteers. Translating DeSantis speak, this really means “I want to create an organization that cannot be federalized and is under my direct control.”  If that doesn't scare the **** out of you, it should.

         The end of the Cold War saw a significant decrease, in general, of interest in state defense forces. While state defense forces and civil defense organizations had been so closely linked that they were almost one and the same, there was widely seen no “on the ground necessity” for them any longer.  The attacks of September 11th, 2001, did generate some additional interest, even though emergency personnel of highly trained and organized police and fire departments did heroic service, and didn't need to refresh themselves on what was required in an emergency as almost certainly any state defense force would under the circumstances. There is also some general scrutiny from some in the U.S. military who actually question the training and equipment of such units and whether they simply provide an outlet for “warrior wannabes,” who might would not otherwise qualify for service in the armed forces.

        The currently non-existent State Defense Force is a military entity described by the Florida Statutes as a state-authorized militia prepared to assume the state mission of the Florida National Guard in case all of Florida's National Guard units are federally mobilized and authorized by executive order when the situation requires. This implies that the only time activation of such a state guard would be valid when be in the circumstance that all 12,000 members of the Florida National Guard are otherwise occupied on federal orders. Presently only 450 members of the Florida National Guard are deployed or training outside the state. Make sure you understand the implication: our governor believes that although11 and a half thousand National Guardsmen are still within the state we desperately need two hundred more under the governor's control and outside federal regulation.

         A state guard might well have little or no actual military training and probably would see themselves as loyal to the governor, vice the federal government. Consider a recent New York Times report. The Times found that many senior officers of the New York guard had little, or no formal military training yet held, in some cases, the ranks of general. This harks back to the Civil War days when a senator could be a general simply for the asking. One former officer of the New York guard actually told a Times reporter, “If you’re friendly with the governor and you always wanted to be a general, you ask the governor to make you a general and "poof" you’re a Brigadier General."

        Reflecting on today’s political divisions among citizens’ points of view, I find it highly likely that those that volunteered for a state guard would be those who think it is their role to defy the federal government, not support it. Why do I feel that way? Simply because our governor, who wants to form this organization, has already defied government recommendations regarding masks in public, government regulations related to the safety of schoolchildren during the COVID pandemic and has tried to pass a law which while, on paper aimed at quelling violent protest, is so vague as to what constitutes “protest” that Mr. DeSantis could simply order almost any peaceful demonstration quashed.

         Thankfully, the initial appeal of this law found it to be unconstitutional; however if it goes to the Florida Supreme Court, DeSantis has friends there that might actually allow this bad legislation, even though the lower court’s 90 page ruling says, in part, the law is “vague and overbroad” and persons engaged in peaceful protest or innocently in the same area, if the demonstration became violent, could face criminal charges in his death penalties under the law.

        Lest you think even for a moment that no governor would do such a thing as misuse a state guard, consider this: in 1934, Louisiana Senator, Huey Long, actually had his political ally and pawn, the governor of Louisiana, mobilize members of the Louisiana National Guard, armed with submachine guns, to raid establishments in New Orleans that he considered immoral. He gave orders to “shoot without hesitation” if resistance occurred. Gambling equipment was burned, prostitutes were arrested and were actually frisked, nude, in public, and $25,000 which today is equivalent to $376,000 was seized from private individuals and put into government funds at Long's disposal. Authorities in the city had requested no assistance and the Louisiana Attorney General declared Long's actions illegal, but “The Kingfish”, in a very Ron DeSantis type statement, simply said “Nobody asked him for his opinion.”  While it is true that this was misuse of the National Guard, it is a shining example of what a demagogue might do with an even less regulated state guard, and what action they might take undertake against their own constituency without authority.

         And, before you cite the Second Amendment and the words a “well-regulated militia”, you must understand that the founding fathers viewed most militia performances as anything but well-regulated or acceptable. First President and Revolutionary War commander George Washington, himself referred the state militias as a “broken staff.” Additionally, from historical perspective, the Second Amendment was, as were many of the provisions of the Bill of Rights, added by James Madison after the constitution was ratified, generally at the insistence of rabid anti-federalists such as Patrick Henry.

        Following ratification of the constitution, the militia generally underperformed again in the War of 1812 and in the following decades many militias would show up for musters with broom-sticks or cornstalks instead of rifles. This did not happen in the Southern states of which, I remind you, Florida is one, because they needed the militia to enforce slavery. What? a governor mobilizes a state security, force to suppress a portion of the population?  Never say never. And finally, consider that even an ardent believer in Federal power, Alexander Hamilton grudgingly opined that he thought militias were valid entities because, of course, militias would be composed of “individuals the average citizen knows and trusts.”

        Finally, consider this: the legal team for 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse referred to him throughout his trial as a member of “the militia” and a “minuteman” as if he were part of the patriotic forces fighting the British at Lexington in Concord in 1975. This terminology, although archaic, is still far too common in “gun circles” and we have seen more radicals acting as if the U.S. Constitution has somehow deputized them to form unregulated paramilitary groups. What Governor DeSantis proposes is little more than his own private paramilitary group, free to operate completely outside of federal control. 

     Might a “President DeSantis” (God forbid) attempt something similar at the federal level?

If you can think of a worse idea let me know.