The Praetorian Guard was an elite unit of the Imperial Roman army established to serve as bodyguards for Roman Emperors during the Roman Empire, and as an escort for high ranking officials like senators or regional governors during the Roman Republic before that. They were in fact recruited from, and remained part of, the Roman military forces. The Praetorians also acted as intelligence agents, and later evolved into a sort of military police; for centuries this tradition was replicated in later western civilizations. For centuries all policing was done by the military.
source: YouTube
At some point in history most nations developed a separate police force; that was when democracies were born and policing wasn't about the Emperor's or the King's safety anymore, but about the people's safety. Or at least that's what we're led to believe... The third amendment of America's constitution reads "no Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law", and stems from 1791, only 15 years after the declaration of independence. Under English rule, the military, acting as police, could be quartered in homes, bars, taverns, hotels, or any other place where rebels might come together to plot against their rightful rulers; with that zeitgeist in mind, it's easy to understand why this amendment that's almost never mentioned nowadays is so high up in the list, even above the one that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and the one that says "innocent until proven guilty". It's also worth considering that the right to bear arms, the second amendment, also stems from that zeitgeist, giving the people the opportunity to form armed militias; maybe that one is as outdated as the third amendment, and is only causing much unneeded violence and death in modern times. Or do you believe that an armed militia could stand against the modern warfare-toys of the state in 2020..? Just some food for thought.
In light of, and in reaction to recent events, following the murder of George Floyd and the consequent public outrage and mass protests, I've written extensively about the police, their origin as an institution separate from the military, and how they have always been the first line of defense of the capitalist ruling class, as evidenced by their early roles of catching escaped slaves (the slave patrol) and breaking up unions (Pinkerton National Detective Agency). But those days are long gone, right? Well... No, not really. The police are still in service of the nation's rulers, not its people. And with the ongoing militarization of America's police forces we've come full circle; they are the modern day version of a Praetorian Guard indeed. The below linked video will go into great detail as to why this is the case, without literally mentioning that we've come full circle , but I'll shortly introduce you to some of the items discussed in there.
Ask yourself: what is a crime? Most of us will immediately come up with a couple: murder, theft, rape, assault and so on. All of these are examples of non consensual acts where one or more parties are hurt in some way, the key words being "non consensual". But a lot of what we nowadays label as crime, are perfectly consensual acts. For example, 1920 saw the start of prohibition in the United States; from that year on, until 1933, the production and sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited. What was a perfectly consensual and legal act in 1919 suddenly became a crime. Think about that for a minute. Of course the demand for alcoholic beverages didn't magically disappear by just passing a law, so crime rates went up, with moon-shining and organized crime assuring the continued supply, albeit illegally. When Nixon announced "the war on drugs" in 1970, millions of people who consensually sold and bought drugs up until 1969, suddenly risked arrest and jail-time for something that was perfectly normal in their minds. Of course the drugs were only an excuse; the state just wanted to stamp down on peaceful anti-war protesters and hippies on behalf of the military industrial complex...
What should slowly be dawning on you by now is that crime rates, that reached a peak in the 1990s, isn't as much the result of people, of any race, becoming more criminal, but much more a consequence of the constant expansion of what's labeled as crime. Until 1984 there was no such thing as a "legal drinking age"; that's 21 years now in America. Think of how absurd it is that 18 years old youngsters are allowed to carry a gun and are sent abroad to die in wars, but they're not allowed to drink a pint of beer. Well, I'll leave it there and invite you to watch the brilliant video by Knowing Better; I can recommend all his work by the way, as most of his videos are as good as this one. I hope this will shed some light on why the Republicans are traditionally the party of "law and order", and which "order" they want to protect. When Trump rages against the "extreme leftist terrorists" of BLM and Antifa, and glorifies the police that violently incites violence on and among the protesters, remember the peaceful anti-war protesters from the 1960s and how the police were used against them. Trump and his administration, as well as individual Republican state-officials, have already attempted to criminalize the protests and would love to make criminals of all the millions of protesters; don't let them.
The Quartering of Troops | Police Militarization
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