Civilian Law Enforcement Has Become A Standing Army

"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions of liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have always been the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people."
-James Madison

A standing army is defined as: a permanent body of people organized and trained for land warfare.
The United States military, kept under the pretext of defending, has the biggest budget world wide and is spread thin across more than 150 countries. With 2018 being the United States' seventeenth year in the "war on terror" and today being Memorial Day, I find it pertinent to discuss America's huge standing army.
The one we call the military industrial complex is well known. But the federal, state and local standing armies that patrol suburban cul-de-sacs and ghetto streets pose a greater immediate threat to life and liberty of American people than jack-boots halfway around the world kicking in doors and terrorising foreign lands. (While I do acknowledge the kicking in of random doors to be an unnecessary act of agression, no matter who's military is doing it.)

The fact that the United States military hasn't actually declared war through Congress since World War Two coupled with the realization that the U.S. has been waging it's costly "war on terror " for almost eighteen years now should give some insight into the severity of the situation. Congress has only formally declared war eleven times in the history of the U.S.
The mindset of the soldier is to follow orders, not reflect on whether the order was "constitutional " or not. From Libya to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Africa Somalia, Yemen etc. The United States military has carried out contract after contract, intervention after bloody intervention only to spend more tax dollars and create more terrorism.

The same mindset that drives the soldier's obedience exists in that of civilian law enforcement. With the increased militarization of police giving them the mentality that civilians are the enemy and the war on drugs making violent crime more prevalent, it's no wonder fear mongers are blathering about a "war on cops." The argument has been made that; "their job is the most dangerous" and "they just want to make it home." These and similar arguments don't hold up in logical discussion. The former statement just plainly isn't true and I can say with confidence that we all would like to go home at the end of the day regardless of what costume we wear.
There are three sectors of law enforcement: federal, state, and local. Federal spending on any level is egregious and unnecessary. An oversight study done by Open The Books called: "The Militarization of America Fiscal Years 2006 - 2014" found that sixty-seven non-military federal agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition and military style equipment. Other administrative agencies that purchased such equipment include: FDA, SBA, department of education, the social security administration and many more. Since 2004(through 2014,) the department of homeland security has purchased 1.7 billion bullets, including 453 million hollow points. Why, just why? Even the Smithsonian Institution is buying up military equipment. The IRS, with their 2,316 special agents(as of 2014) spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammo and military style equipment.

What is really concerning though, is the 1033 program created by the National Defense Authorization Act (1997) that authorized the transfer of excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement.
Another report done by Open The Books: "The Militarization of Local Police Departments," found that between 2006 and 2015, $2.2 billion worth of military gear, including helicopters, airplanes, armored trucks and cars, tens of thousands of automatic rifles, thousands of bayonets, mine detectors many other types of weaponry was given to civilian law enforcement from the Department of Defense.
You are even able to search by zip code to find out what your local precinct received from the generous DOD, with Florida topping the charts of the top twelve states receiving gear at $304,009,144.27.

The idea of "democratic policing" with a hyper-militarized force is laughable at best. Swat teams originall devised as special responders for emergency situations are deployed for drug searches more than any other purposes combined. The change in equipment comes with a change in mentality. When you put a cop in an MRAP, his ego swells and now there is an enemy to fight and an urban battlefield to fight on. Simply put, children will play new games with new toys. The mentality police have that they are "at war" with the communities they are said to be there to protect speaks volumes to their intent. Just like the standing armies the fondling fathers and the anti-federalists warned about, modern day law enforcement has grown far too powerful for their own good. Once used to "protect and serve" they may soon be used to assault and enslave.

-Aahabb