The headline is alarmist but not as over-the-top as reactions from Democratic gubernatorial candidates frothing at the mouth about “secret police” and “wannabe dictators”.
Governors already have the authority to activate National Guard troops to respond to emergencies so in that sense they are forces that governors “control”. Complicating things is that there are federal components of National guard units, and National Guardsmen can be federalized to serve on a wider basis in a calamity and even to be deployed abroad.
Politics likely is playing a significant role in the Florida proposal; as previously noted, DeSantis wants to appear strong and at least somewhat independent of federal help in a disaster. The flip side of that is if the state guard turns out to be inadequately trained and incompetent, it’ll reflect badly on him.
There are so many otherwise reasonable people who, somehow, even after Trump, even after The Big Lie, even after the Republicans stack our election boards with their own and create their own armed mobs that are in denial about it and assure themselves that everything that’s happening now is within the norms of politics.
Independent of federal help in a disaster? Really? This is about augmenting a disaster relief force?
I don’t know how loud these guys have to scream with both their words and their actions that they are creating a fascist coup movement to shake you out of complacency and assuring yourself that everything is normal. If it hasn’t happened by now, it probably won’t.
We used to have a Naval Militia in my state which was organized under the same law that allows for state defense forces. I knew some of them. Mostly retired O5s and O6s. The problem was too many chiefs not enough Indians. In an unpaid volunteer force everyone wanted to be an Admiral no one wanted to be a seaman apprentice. It didn’t seem to last very long.
Feel free. And no, I don’t expect it to be county wide (and I’m less worried about the cost and equipment, because, somehow, I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘charitable donations from civic minded citizens’ were solicited) - just a few, targeted locations that might otherwise have local government unfriendly with DeSantis.
There have been multiple local governments that have gotten on his bleep-list for daring to question his COVID/Mask freedum decrees after all.
But that means that, if a state goes rogue, the feds can shut them down, unlike with the state.
And, yes, the Democrats are playing into his hands if they treat this like a secret police, as this is exactly the idea he’s appealing to. People need to get into their head that the authoritarianism is the attraction to many. The better political move, IMO, is to push the idea that they’re compensating for being weak.
As I understand it, the whole “state guard” idea grew out of a desire during WWII for states to have militia forces for the roles that the National Guard would typically perform in peacetime. But since the National Guard units had all been federalized and were serving on active duty, there wasn’t anyone to do these roles- disaster recovery, etc… so the states came up with their own militias to do those jobs.
Some states kept them, some have not. Here in Texas, the State Guard is kind of like a low-rent version of the National Guard- it’s not armed (which in Texas says something, I think), but it does have military uniforms and ranks. They do get the same legal protections in terms of their day jobs that National Guard troops get.
A guy I used to work with were in the Texas State Guard; it was all crowd control and traffic directing, as well as handing out MREs and bottled water after tornadoes and stuff like that, from what he told me.
However, I would ask why DeSantis feels like this is necessary now; presumably Florida has got by fine for the past three quarters of a century without needing it.
You are saying that DeSantis has a large enough base that cheer the idea of a Florida Gestapo State Guard that answers only to the governor, that can and will be used to suppress dissent, that more people will be excited and happy about that than will be turned off?
Not to worry, because it has the same name as some force formed in 1873 to fight Indians or bears or something, so it’s really nothing new and not a problem.
Because the FSG would be an all voluntary, unpaid force. You get more bang for the buck if you spend 3.5 Million training and equipping unpaid volunteers who can be mobilized to fill sandbags, pass out blankets, and help with search & rescue than you would getting a few more guardsmen who will add recurring costs to your state budget.
The State Guard is a cost saving measure analogous to police departments and sheriff’s offices employing Community Service Officers who handle all the small dog tasks for pennies compared to sworn officers.
I’ve been following the Florida State Guard reactivation group on Facebook for several years now. This didn’t happen out of the blue and as pointed out in the OP, half the states currently have one.
I’m not opposed to a state having a state defense force as a sort of auxiliary to the National Guard. I’m not convinced that’s what De Santis is envisioning, however. It certainly doesn’t sound like his plan means more bang for the buck. De Santis wants $3.5 million dollars for a State Defense Force of 200–$17,500 per member. Florida has 10,000 Nat’l Guard members, for which the state pays $87.5 million, or $8,750 per member.
Sounds like this would be a State agency, not DeSantis’ private militia. In other words, I’m not seeing why the members of this new force would be more likely to obey blatantly unconstitutional orders than the current Florida National Guard would be.
From what I can tell the federal portion of the Florida National Guard budget is about $500 million. The National Guard is much more expensive than a state defense force. If the Governor activates the Guard for state active duty for over 30 days a lot of active duty benefits kick in and it starts to get very expensive. With a state defense force they don’t get paid to train and if they are activated they don’t get the military benefits the guard gets.
I mean, renewing the defense force might not be all bad. I read that the Fl. National Guard is overworked / the State could use more units. As was explained earlier, Florida can’t just decide to expand the guard but has to beg Congress.
See for example House Memorial 505, notice that some of the cosponsors are Democrats. Here’s the guts,
WHEREAS, with approximately 21 million residents, Florida is the third most populous state in the nation but nevertheless has a force structure of just over 12,000 Guardsmen, and its ratio of one Guardsman for every 1,833 residents ranks 53rd among the 54 states and territories of the United States which have a National Guard component, and
WHEREAS, due to the unprecedented events of 2020 and 2021, including COVID-19 response in addition to natural disasters and overseas deployments, the Florida National Guard has expended the same number of workdays within the past 18 months as it has expended within the past 20 years, and
WHEREAS, the Florida National Guard continues to meet its mission goals; however, the shortage of these invaluable “citizen soldiers,” combined with the state’s growing population and increased need for National Guard activation and response, has resulted in the repeated deployment of the same soldiers, which ultimately leads to their excessive fatigue and negatively impacts recruitment, retention, and readiness, and […]
So in the best light, (ignore for a minute who our governor is and the circumstances surrounding the proposal), a defense force is not necessarily a bad idea but a way to solve an apparently legitimate problem.
I won’t offer my endorsement on this (not having a well-informed opinion), and I won’t argue that DeSantis has good intentions, but the basic concept isn’t rotten.
Yes, but is there some system in place to insure that only right-wingers will be able to enlist in this service? Either someone is willing to commit treason or they aren’t, and I don’t think very many people are going to make that decision based on whether they are covered by the UCMJ.