A well-regulated militia is a defensive army. The Founders found it preferable to the tyrant’s weapon of conscription, mercenaries, or a standing army. It slowly faded during the invasion of indigenous land from the 1830s (with time out during the early 1860s when we were distracted by killing each other), and its last vestige was in WW-II when state militias (called National or Territorial Guards) were nationalized and became indistinguishable from a standing army. You can’t be an imperial power with a defensive military, just a free one.
kurtzwicky
A well-regulated militia is a defensive army. The Founders found it preferable to the tyrant’s weapon of conscription, mercenaries, or a standing army. It slowly faded during the invasion of indigenous land from the 1830s (with time out during the early 1860s when we were distracted by killing each other), and its last vestige was in WW-II when state militias (called National or Territorial Guards) were nationalized and became indistinguishable from a standing army. You can’t be an imperial power with a defensive military, just a free one.