Green Liberty Caucus, Oregon Chapter, Pacific Green Party in solidarity with Defend the Guard. Uphold the USA Constitution with SB 667.
Sponsored by Oregon’s Peace Coalition: https://antiwaroregon.com/about-2/
Read full essay about Defend the Guard here: https://antiwaroregon.com/defend-the-guard/
INTRODUCTION
Defend the Guard is state-based legislation which would prohibit the deployment of a state’s National Guard units into active combat without a formal declaration of war by Congress, as required by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution…
Defend the Guard legislation gives no impediment on the ability of the president or a governor to activate the National Guard under Title 10 or Title 32 authority, respectively. The bill clearly defines the governor’s authority to command the National Guard within the state.
When Congress votes and approves a formal declaration of war, as required by Article I, Section 8, the National Guard will have the legal approval to perform combat operations beyond the borders of the United States and under the command of the president as outlined by Title 10 U.S.C.
The National Guard forms the backbone of the U.S. Armed Forces, possessing close to 450,000 combined members of the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. Since 2001, around
45% of the troops deployed in the Global War on Terror have been Guardsmen, and those units have incurred over 18% of the casualties. As recently as December 2020, more than 57,000 Guardsmen were deployed overseas in both combat and “peacekeeping” operations.
As of 2022, Defend the Guard has been introduced in twenty-one state legislatures representing every region of the country. Bill sponsors have included conservative Republicans, progressive Democrats, and elected Libertarians.
The Defend the Guard movement has been endorsed by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, ret. Brig. Gen. John Bahnsen, whistleblowers Daniel Ellsberg and Matthew Hoh, and former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, among others.
Defend the Guard legislation has been profiled on PBS Newshour, NPR, The Hill, The Washington Times, Military.com, The National Interest, and Reason, among others.
For years, polling has consistently demonstrated that U.S. veterans favor military withdrawals from our wars in the Middle East at even higher percentages than civilians. This included Afghanistan, where over two-thirds of veterans supported a withdrawal, and Iraq and Syria, where thousands of soldiers remain stationed, enduring regular missile attacks and other hostile actions.
Contact Oregon Senators and state house representatives to advance this legislation: https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/state-legislative.aspx