short version: in a little-noticed move, the utterly contemptible democratic congress approved putting the national guard under the control of the federal government: specifically, of the president. long version here.
the money quote:
gene healy, senior editor at the cato institute, quoth:
“it is not clear anymore that federalism is a priority for the republican party except for rhetorically.”
commentary: it’s an interesting article, and i wanted to call out a few things for particular attention, considering that this means the president can call up the national guard without the approval of the state government..
bryan whitman, pentagon spokesman, quoth:
“no one is attempting to wrest control of the national guard…[snip]…what this section is aimed at doing is providing the president with increased authority, discretionary authority to call upon the dedicated reserves to help citizens at a time of disasters.”
bzzt, wrong answer! thank you for playing, mr. whitman, but your obvious doublespeak aside, this is obviously another kick in the teeth to states rights.
mike huckabee (mostly) drafted that letter in response to this increase of government power on behalf of all US governors opposing this. every single governor. i think that says something—and my respect for mike huckabee has increased in response to this.
i am incredibly disappointed in this congress for blindly just going along with this. what is wrong with these craven, useless bastards?
ed
