Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 30, 2011

Although it is as routinely ignored as any other constitutional or statutory limit on government power, the Posse Comitatus Act is still the law. That statute forbids the use of the military in domestic law enforcement operations.

During the 1980s, huge exceptions were carved out of that statute to permit co-mingling of police and military units to fight the ?War on Drugs.? Now a pilot program in the State of Wyoming would expand that exception to include underage drinking and drunk driving.

Through a federally subsidized, $300,000 program, police in Cheyenne will collaborate with personnel from the F.E. Warren Air Force Base to enforce a ?zero tolerance? program. Beginning this Halloween, saturation patrols of police and military police will swarm the city?s streets in search of underage drinkers or adults who have supposedly imbibed a bit too much.

In Columbus, Georgia, officials have arranged a different kind of collaboration: In exchange for an armored vehicle and specialized training, the Columbus Police Department?s SWAT team will be assigned as the ?special response team? at nearby Ft. Benning [ ? which, as the home of the Army Infantry, is well able to see to its own security needs].

These initiatives are driven by opportunism, not necessity ? and they are intended to accelerate our society?s descent into undisguised tyranny.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.