Jade Helm and State concerns of a federal takeover

Good day all. For the last couple of weeks there has been a number of conspiracy theories regarding the massive multi-state military operation called Jade Helm. A large number of people are concerned that this is nothing more then a rehearsal for a declaration of Martial Law and military rule.

We have the Governor of Texas who has assigned people to keep an eye on the troops, and people all over the internet making one claim after another. With regards to Governor Abbott, I think he’s just making sure the Army doesn’t accidentally set the state of Texas on fire as has happened in the past with other federal agencies training exercises. However, people are a bit concerned, and this attracted the attention of Rasmussen Reports:

Eight weeks of U.S. military exercises this summer in several southwestern states – dubbed Jade Helm 15 – have some wondering if the government is preparing for martial law. Most voters don’t oppose such exercises, but a surprising number worry about what the federal government is up to.

Most people actually trust the military, at least those below the rank of General. They know that American soldiers take their oath’s to defend the Constitution seriously, and that they are very well schooled in the Posse Comitatus Act. What they are worried about is that Obama and the Federal Government will use these exercises as a means to take more control away from the states.

45% of voters are concerned that the government will use U.S. military training operations to impose greater control over some states, with 19% who are Very Concerned. Just over half (52%) are not concerned that the government has an ulterior motive for the training exercises, including 26% who are Not At All Concerned. Among voters who oppose military exercises in their state, 82% are concerned that the federal government has greater control in mind. Just 34% of those who favor the exercises share that concern.

Now, the report is full of statistics and numbers, and I’m not going to go into them here to the extent that Rasmussen does. I strongly recommend reading the full article to see the numbers. (They are a polling company after all) Rasmussen explains why people are concerned over the exercise.

This level of concern is perhaps less surprising given that 62% of Americans believe there is too much government power and too little individual freedom in the United States today.

Americans traditionally distrust government. It wasn’t until the Roosevelt Administration that, thanks to good press and lots of propaganda, that people more people began trusting government then distrust it. That was the point when we saw the Progressives come in and declare the constitution to be a “Living Document.” It wasn’t until Watergate that people began to switch back to distrusting the government. Ronald Reagan was noted for distrusting the government with quotes like “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Reagan had as his goal severely cutting back on Federal government power. He did what he could, and his work unleashed the longest period economic growth in living memory. It took Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and finally Obama to bring the economic powerhouse Reagan created to a screeching halt.

With the growth of government and the out of control federal agencies, people have regained their distrust and fear of the government. This is why we are seeing so many people saying that Jade Helm is a plot to suppress states rights and institute a federal takeover of state and local institutions such as police and education. It doesn’t help that many on the left at the federal level are trying to do just that.

However, Jade Helm is not the mechanism they will use. Getting the rank and file soldiers to turn on the American people is doomed to failure. They might get some flag officers in place who would issue the orders to suppress Americans, but getting the troops to carry out that order would be a major problem. Most won’t and would either desert with their equipment, or turn their weapons on the officer issuing that sort of an illegal order.

Saying all this, I’m not worried that the military will move against the states. As to the rest of the Federal Government? Well, allow me to quote Reagan again:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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