PRESIDENT TRUMP ON “LAW ENFORCEMENT”

PART 1 of 3

By Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.

March 7, 2017

NewsWithViews.com

One of the major concerns I have had with Donald Trump as a candidate, and continue to have with President Trump in the White House, is the all-too-often ambiguous, even amorphous, character of his pronouncements on important policies. To be sure, this defect might be only apparent—the unfortunate result of combining Mr. Trump’s penchant for truncated statements with my own inability to extrapolate from the few words he does provide a deeper meaning which he may intend for them to convey. (I readily admit that I must be counted among the ever-diminishing set of Americans who consider twitterite and fakebookish discourse truly deplorable means for attempting to communicate ideas with depth any greater than that of a cookie sheet.) On the other hand, perhaps Mr. Trump and his advisors are at fault for not offering more specificity in what they cause to be published below the White House’s by-line.

For a prime example of the latter demerit, most recently my attention was piqued when I came across the White House’s internet post entitled “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community”. See [Link]. Unfortunately, this is an essay without a compelling theme reflective of Mr. Trump’s promise to “make America great again”. Rather than locating itself in a recognizably American historical and legal context, providing a critical overview of contemporary problems, and proposing a long-term political strategy consistent with fundamental constitutional principles, it offers little more than slogans—the main one being that “[t]he Trump Administration will be a law and order administration”. Inasmuch as the first and foremost duty of every President under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, this glittering generality imparts to the reader precious little of actual substance. For the question remains: “What body of ‘law’ and what kind of ‘order’ will the Trump Administration enforce?” Oh, I realize (perhaps “hope” is the more accurate verb) that somewhere over the political rainbow there must be more in the minds of the author(s) of this post than the few paragraphs it contains. My concern, though, is: “What more?”

1. Although its title refers to “our law enforcement community”, the White House’s post nowhere even suggests that the latter “community” includes in any way, shape, or form “the Militia of the several States”, the one and only “community” to which the Constitution explicitly assigns the authority and responsibility “to execute the Laws of the Union” (and of their own States as well). See U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1; art. I, § 8, cl. 15; and amends. II and X. One must wonder, therefore, what extra-constitutional, non-constitutional, or even (Heaven forefend) anti-constitutional notion of “standing up for our law enforcement community” the White House has in mind, when it leaves out of consideration any rôle for the Militia.

This oversight is especially ominous in light of the neo-Bolshevist “color revolution” which “leftists” have launched throughout this country in order not simply to demoralize, demonize, and delegitimize, but ultimately to destroy entirely the Trump Administration—in service, not of “the working class”, but of predatory globalist multi-billionaires for whom “the working class” no longer counts for anything, any more than does any other conglomeration of “useful idiots” and “transmission belts” who and which can be aggregated and energized under the divisive banners of contemporary “identity politics”. Mr. Trump and his advisors will prove to be extraordinarily naïve, amateurish, and even feckless if they fail to realize that, absent timely revitalization of the Militia, not just the present Administration but also America as a whole will all too soon be submerged in very hot and deep political waters from which their extrication will be exceedingly difficult. And no, I am not referring to the National Guard—which is no “militia” at all (in the constitutional sense), but instead consists of the “Troops, or Ships of War” which the States may “keep * * * in time of Peace” “with[ ] the Consent of Congress” under Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution (that is, a component of “the standing army”). Rather, “the Militia of the several States” consist of all of WE THE PEOPLE—or at least that part of them which the Declaration of Independence styled “the good People”—who today constitute “the Whites” versus “the Reds” (in line with the dichotomy in the original Bolshevist “color revolution”). In keeping with the Declaration of Independence’s excoriation of King George III for “ha[ving] affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power”, “the good People” of the present time must impress upon the Trump Administration the imprudence of deploying the National Guard or any other component of the regular Armed Forces to deal with this matter under some variety of “martial law” (in the sense most Americans give to that term). Rather, reliance must be had on the Militia, as the true constitutional recourse against the domestic lawlessness of any contemporary “color revolution”. See Parts 6 and 7, below.

2. The White House’s post asserts that “[o]ne of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community * * * free of crime and violence”. It does not, however, answer (or even ask) the question: “‘Safe’ at what cost?” The Constitution does. One of the goals it sets out in its Preamble is to “ensure domestic Tranquility”, which obviously describes the situation which obtains in “a safe community * * * free of crime and violence”. Another goal identified in that same place is to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. And the Preamble links these two goals with the unqualified conjunction “and”, thereby demanding that both of them are to be achieved simultaneously, not one to be sacrificed for the supposed benefit of the other. For self-evident to the Founders (just as it should be to contemporary Americans) is that this country can never secure the full measure of “domestic Tranquility” without maximizing “the Blessings of Liberty”, and vice versa.

3. So it is troubling that the White House’s post takes the one-sided position that “[t]he dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.” For this fails to recognize that two quite different types of “anti-police” activism exist in this country today. One of them intends to undermine “domestic Tranquility” by sabotaging the legitimate work of law-enforcement agencies in every way possible, and therefore should be exposed and eradicated; whereas the other desires to protect “the Blessings of Liberty” against threats emanating from rogue law-enforcement personnel, and therefore should be praised and promoted.

The “anti-police atmosphere” antagonistic to “domestic Tranquility” is being propagated by groups intent upon engendering divisions and mutual antagonisms within society, and especially turning as many Americans as possible against their own governments at every level of the federal system, so as to create the chaotic conditions propitious for waging a successful neo-Bolshevist “color revolution”. The strategy at work is quite simple: Because, of all governmental agencies, police forces interact with the citizenry on the closest day-to-day basis, most common Americans tend to treat them, rightly or wrongly, as particularly representative of “the government” as a whole. If ordinary people can be inveigled to turn against the police in particular, they will naturally turn as well against the government in general. If they do so in large enough numbers, society will become effectively ungovernable, and thus ripe for all sorts of political upheavals. So the White House’s post is correct to emphasize that “[o]ur job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter”—because, although most of these street criminals are little more than “useful idiots”, they (along with the other “disrupters” who know precisely what they are about) constitute the first wave of cannon fodder in the initial offensive in the neo-Bolsheviks’ “color revolution”. If they cannot be checked at the outset, their aggression will only increase in its scope and intensify in its destructive effects.

On the other hand, the contemporary “anti-police atmosphere” favorable to “the Blessings of Liberty” is the result of many Americans’ fully justifiable complaints about intolerable levels of patently lawless, yet all-too-often unpunished, behavior by rogue law-enforcement personnel occurring across the length and breadth of this country. Of course, in a free society operating under “the rule of law” (and especially the constraints of “the rule of constitutional law”), any misconduct by law-enforcement agencies should be denounced as excessive, and every malefactor in their ranks should be held maximally accountable for his misconduct. After all, when an officer of the law breaks some law, he violates not only that particular law which he has a general duty to obey in his capacity as an ordinary citizen, but also the very principle of law-enforcement itself which he (unlike an ordinary citizen) is specially sworn to uphold. So, when a representative of the law breaks the law and gets away with his misbehavior under color of the law, his actions inevitably generate disrespect for all law among everyone else. Today, though, the level of police misconduct throughout America is, not simply excessive, but even extremely so, primarily because of the manner in which it tends to be mishandled. All too typically, such misconduct as comes to public attention is explained away by spokesmen for “police unions”, then excused by departmental “internal affairs” investigators and accommodating prosecutors who “find” that the perpetrators’ actions were in accord with various “policies” and “guidelines” (as if those magic words could set at naught constitutional commands). And later on, civil lawsuits brought by the victims are dismissed or otherwise frustrated on the grounds that the perpetrators are privileged to avoid personal liability perforce of fantastic “immunity” defenses of one sort or another concocted by the kangaroo courts under color of “judicial supremacy”.

In light of these circumstances, how can the Trump Administration fulfill the promise that it “will end [the anti-police atmosphere in America]”—but as to both aspects of that “atmosphere”? The White House’s post is not wrong to point out that “[o]ur country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement, and more effective policing”. The proper manner in which to meet these needs, though, remains the question. Not surprisingly, the Constitution supplies the answer.

The Constitution of the United States provides no explicit mandate or permission for the professional police or like law-enforcement agencies found throughout this country today. The only institutions within the federal system to which the Constitution assigns the authority and responsibility “to execute the Laws of the Union” are “the Militia of the several States”; and the only individual officeholder to which the Constitution assigns the authority and responsibility to “take Care that the Law be faithfully executed” is the President, to whom it also entrusts the status of “Commander in Chief * * * of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States”. See U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cls. 15 and 16; art. II, § 3; and art. II, § 2, cl. 1. Self-evidently, “execut[ing] the Laws of the Union” and “tak[ing] Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” involve quintessential “law-enforcement” and “police” functions. Similarly, because “the Militia of the several States” are the States’ own governmental institutions, with permanent place in the federal system, and because the Constitution, through the Second Amendment, declares that only “[a] well regulated Militia” is “necessary to the security of a free State”, “law-enforcement” or “police” functions which relate to the provision of “security” under State and Local law must devolve upon “the Militia of the several States” in each of the States, and upon each of the Governors of “the several States” in their capacities as commanders in chief of their own States’ Militia. Moreover, inasmuch as each of “the Militia of the several States” must be “[a] well regulated Militia” and “[a] well regulated Militia” must be composed of the body of the people, in the final analysis the American people themselves, properly organized in “well regulated Militia”, should assume primary responsibility for the performance of all “law-enforcement” and “police” functions. This, of course, is no constitutional accident. For in a constitutional republic in which the people themselves exercise sovereignty (as described below), who but the people themselves can be entrusted with the task of policing the people themselves?

So if, as the White House’s post opines, “[o]ur country needs more law enforcement”, the true constitutional source of the additional manpower should be the Militia. Being composed of every able-bodied adult from sixteen years of age upwards (until justly exempted on the basis of superannuation), the Militia could supply far more individuals already qualified, or capable of being trained, to perform any and every “law-enforcement” and “police” function which both the Union and the several States might require. (Actually, if the job were to be done with scrupulous attention to the Constitution, all present-day police forces and other law-enforcement agencies at the State and Local levels should be integrated within the Militia largely in their present forms, augmented by such other specially trained units and reserve formations as the circumstances in various States and Localities might warrant.) If “[o]ur country needs * * * more community engagement [in ‘law enforcement’]”, in what more efficacious and safe manner could this goal be met than by enlisting the whole community in each community in the effort? No “anti-police atmosphere” could ever arise were the people themselves the police and the police the people. And if “[o]ur country needs * * * more effective policing”, how could this be better guaranteed than by drawing participants in “police” functions from the most extensive pool of talent extant in any community: namely, essentially the entire adult community itself? Not only that: When in the form and with the authority of “well regulated Militia” the people in Local communities will police themselves, law enforcement will necessarily become more effective than it is or ever could be now, because then the people with the greatest personal incentives to maintain proper “law and order” will be directly in charge. No longer will the people in any Locality be subject to a police force of élitist professionals who (as is all too often the case today) envision themselves as aloof from, superior to, and even the antagonists of the very community which they are supposed to protect and serve. For part two click below.

Click here for part -----> 1, 2, 3,