The Libertarian Party of Maryland supports passage of the House Bill 273, the Defend the Guard Act. Introduced by Delegate Grammar, the bill requires that before the Governor orders the Maryland National Guard (the militia) or any member of the guard into active duty combat, Congress must have passed a Declaration of War or taken the steps required under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions. The bill provides an exception to continue to allow the Governor to deploy the National Guard consistent with Title 32 of the United States Code, Defense of Civilian Authorities within the United States or its territories. You can read the bill at: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2022RS/bills/hb/hb0273F.pdf

For too long we have enabled the national government to entrench us in endless wars through mere Presidential orders, Congressional AUMFs, or other means of avoiding their constitutional duties. They do this to avoid political accountability or interference by Congress in the conduct of foreign interventions.. We need checks and balances and declarations of war are the proper procedure for deploying our militias abroad into active duty combat operations. We need to defend the people who serve in the National Guard from politicians who deploy them without building the proper political consensus that a declaration of war requires.

If you are interested in supporting this legislation, Baltimore City Libertarians Chair Scott Spaulding will be hosting a zoom meeting this Saturday, January 29th, at 1 p.m. which you can join at: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kSAN1dFm44 The House Health and Government Operations Committee will take public testimony on this bill via zoom on February 8, 2022 at 2:30. Written testimony and sign-ups should be opened up on Friday, February 4th. You must sign up to testify in advance! Contact Scott for more details.

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