How militias could fix America (9 ways)
The American experiment of a free marketplace and individualistic society has been successfully undermined to the point of no return. It was never perfect, and often abused, but now it’s becoming irreversibly damaged by corruption. Standards of living are getting worse, and that’s even after administrations try to play games with statistics to make it seem better than it really is. The pending collapse of America is concentrating social and economic controls into the hands of socialists. And, by unifying with other socialist-globalist failed states, they can all grant sovereignty to regional and global organizations. My thought experiment would pull in the opposition direction, but in the process hopefully avoid the Martial Law or nationalist dictatorship conundrum.
Note: This is a fun thought experiment, and nothing more. I don’t actually suggest or endorse this system as a solution, as I am a Bible-believing Christian who believes firmly in inevitable prophetic fulfillment, not political solutions.
Note: Current laws regarding state militias, the National Guard, and the limits of such organizations are a total mess, but let’s just pretend that my system could be accomplished.
What could a militia solve?
Food
Housing
Employment
Skills/trades
Healthcare/addiction
Crime
Community
Education
Statism/globalism
Signing up and merits
My system would largely revolve around a transparent merit system. Any eligible citizen could take an evaluation course and interview, followed by a basic tryout. These tryouts would be held regularly, allowing non-members to compete in various games to win merits for their potential contract with the militia. Merits could be awarded for all sorts of things:
No criminal record
Fluent in English and/or bilingual
Between 13 and 30 years old
Medically sound
Skills list
Having a merit system that rewarded good people would encourage the youth to live better lives, because simply being of value to the militia would ensure a good start to life. Those with plenty of merits but problems like personal debt could arrange to have their debt paid for by the militia.
Food and housing
Militias could provide free food and housing for anyone who qualifies. Essentially, every militia would be given their own district of land, which would include camps, facilities, ranches, fields, gardens, outposts, training grounds, and more. Lodging would be assigned to members based on their current role in the militia. Apartments and houses would be adequate and standardized. There would be no private ownership of land or dwellings, as everything would be considered public property, belonging to the militia, not a corporation or landlord.
Food would be grown, raised, and processed by the militia. Excess food would be preserved for emergencies as rations, and sold to the marketplace. With transparent policies, military-level efficiency, and both a public and revenue motive, militias would make the best use of the land and water in their territory. Some states would have more fishing and hunting, while others would have more farming and ranching. Aside from the larger operations meant to maximize quality food production, small-scale local food plots would be attached to lodgings everywhere, allowing members to learn crucial gardening and livestock skills, feeding themselves as much as possible.
Employment, skills, and trades
Militia members would be required to enroll in training programs, employment duties, and ultimately be eligible to join or help create a “workforce” which specializes in certain tasks and operations. Workforces would be the equivalent of contractors or local businesses. There would also be competition between workforces, never a monopoly. They would receive direct feedback and evaluations regularly. They would have rotating staff, oversight and transparency, mandates, authorizations, and production or service, but would not be driven by profit, long-term employment, and upward mobility, but instead positive feedback, metrics, and contributions to the larger operation. Individuals might serve for 2 years terms, and as always their performance would be tracked, with options to take on more responsibility and longer terms if they are deemed worthy.
Because of the nature of the militia, reports and data would be plentiful. Trades and important technical skills would never be allowed to fall behind. Licensed professionals would be created constantly. The most ethical, efficient, proven members would be promoted into entrepreneurial roles outside of the militia: their business would be licensed and endorsed by the militia, and could operate businesses in the private sector, translating success inside the organization into success outside the organization.
Healthcare and addiction
The militia would regularly evaluate member’s health. Addicts would not be isolated and punished, but given productive work in controlled environments, rehabilitating them and giving them opportunities to prove themselves. Fitness and self-esteem would be emphasized, with support groups, sports, games, and creative outlets being part of the militia calendar.
Healthcare professionals would be divided into emergency response units and regular care. Medical schools could be set up in the militia, allowing members to enroll and get trained. Like trades, licensed members would be dispatched to jobs within the militia, but the best would be allowed to practice privately outside of it as well.
Crime
Non-violent criminals could be eligible to join the militia with extra stipulations in exchange for avoiding prison. They would enter the legal custody of the militia, and their property would be forfeited. Like drug rehabilitation, opportunities would be given to prove themselves and incorporate into the militia with fewer restrictions over time. Access to weapons, harmful chemicals, and critical information generally be strict, but in the case of criminals it would be forbidden. Law abiding members would be trained on weapon safety, self-defense, and so on, as you would expect from a militia. Most members would only have access to non-lethal firearms with rubber bullets, and move up to small-caliber, low-capacity weapons. Access to serious weaponry would require a dedicated military training program.
Community and education
America (like many developed nations) is divided, paranoid, and disconnected from local communities thanks to the rise of social networking. Family, neighbors, and church have been replaced by apps, contacts, and brands. The militia would limit Internet access, focusing its members on each other, their individual and collective goals, and the overall development of the system.
Education is crucial to community, as members would learn from each other and have challenges to overcome in partnership. Members would need to innovate, give feedback, inquire, and provide transparency. This engagement would form a community, as happiness and fulfillment would be measured and treated as a goal to be attained.
What you are officially taught in the militia would be 90% practical, 10% abstract.
Statism and globalism
When a person is grounded in a community they care about, and can take care of each other without any need for the federal government or international systems, they don’t want to relinquish their rights and freedoms to clueless, corrupt bureaucrats. State militias would be small enough to be manageable, but big enough to be powerful. The exclusion of corporations, NGOs, media outlets, and the Internet would make the militia a refuge from the corrupted general society, and train waves of responsible people to become leaders outside of the militia, knowing their rights, being trained to act, and having trust and credentials.
This is tricky, but the role of the militia is to defend the state and its people, so I think a certain group should serve as journalists and intelligence gatherers within the militia, and outside in the public. Of course they could produce reports for internal use, but I think the only public-facing material they should produce are surveys, with the results being available upon inquiry.
Public service + Meritocracy
Many thousands of Americans join the military because they don’t feel like they have good options. That’s fine. But the local state militia should be a much better alternative, because it is not designed for war, but protection and self-improvement. If done correctly, it could operate at nearly a surplus. It could partner with local cities, farmers, and law enforcement to help out, making state funding more acceptable.
Combat-ready militia units would make much better recruits in the larger military, ready to go as reserves. Obviously, standards for this would be set by the military branches, with representatives making visits and ensuring that tactics, equipment, and lingo are all standardized and up to par. I’m sure that’s what the National Guard is supposed to be doing anyway. To the extent that they are already doing these kinds of things, I don’t know.
Voluntary military organizations do seem to be the last hope for a revitalization of the American soul, but only if it can be a meritocracy, free from the political correctness and ideology that has infected everything. Transparency, merit, and results need to become the heart of the solution. I believe they are already planning big things after the scheduled collapse of the US dollar, cyberattacks, etc. Trump is promising “freedom cities” that I suspect will be akin to military communes anyway, but I don’t trust it.
Transparency, merit, and results need to become the heart of the solution.
If we could both avoid collapse and consolidation, I think it needs to be through public service. It seems to me that Communists in America really want there to be an end to the corporate corruption and lobbyist power, while Libertarians really want an end to federal overreach, military overspending, and red tape. Would they both be happy if they could find a home in a good militia? No corporate greed, no red tape, and maximum efficiency. Yes it would be regulated, and no there would not be private ownership and enterprise within the militia, but it would provide the skills and experience needed to succeed in the private sector. Groups of veterans from the militia would no doubt form work dynamics that would last in the private sector, teaching them how to create a small business. Military veterans tend to do that anyway, but again, this would be on a smaller, more efficient scale.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think of this thought experiment. If you’re interested in more discussion, ask me questions and I can do follow-up posts.
As a red-blooded American, I'll offer a counter-argument.
A secessionist / separatist rebellion or insurrection is the only course of action freedom loving Americans would be willing to attempt (despite almost guaranteed failure in the long run.)
A militia in America can still be sued and it's trade can be restricted. They might try to setup their own currency, and while I don't know of any laws against it, the federal gov't has a precedent of eliminating all homegrown fiat currencies (there are other problems with digital currencies). Because a militia is still technically part of the United States, its legal disputes have to be done in regular courts (they can't setup their own courts system like the actual US military).
But more importantly, the freedom loving, do-it-yourself, pioneering American spirit is almost entirely gone now. Any sort of community requires something akin to a shared goal. Americans are divided in an incredible number of ways. Most can't get along at their day jobs, now add the pressure that their job would actually need to be useful! This style of living would also require people who believe they are highly educated to actually learn valuable skills from almost nothing. To them, that kind of work (AKA honest work) would be beneath them. On top of that, most couldn't even bother trying to live without interfacing with the digital world. To a normal American, avoiding nightly news or social media for longer than a week is far too dangerous.
Just as it took decades of terrible living conditions for post-WW1 Germans to unite under one practical (albeit wrong) movement, it will take the living conditions of average Americans to be terrible for at least one more generation for them to attempt to unite and overthrow or separate from the United States. Offer the average American the choice of living in a psuedo-isolationist paramilitary commune or a glorious rebellion / insurrection against the evil federal gov't, they'd choose rebellion almost everytime.
I don't usually like giving ways of thinking names but this sounds to me like a form of socialism only it's reduced to a much smaller scale. would it work? in my opinion, unless most of the members of the militia where Christians I don't think so. I strongly believe that the reason why most of the world operates under capitalism and democracy is not only down the deception and power of our overlords but to the way humans are.