They only have hammers

I had a talk with someone I know the other day, and she spoke in favor of the deployment of the National Guard in DC. She's qualified to have an opinion because she lives and works in DC and is often harassed by homeless people in the street. She thinks that the deployment of troops, and we can, as of today, add West Virginia National Guards into the mix, will help against crime. It seems like common sense.

Here's why she's wrong.

You wouldn't hire a plumber to rewire your fuse box.

You wouldn't hire a barber to remove your appendix.

You wouldn't hire an unqualified anti-vaxxer to be your head of Health and Human Services (unless you're an addled moron controlled by fascists).

It should be obvious why you wouldn't do those things - training and expertise. Unfortunately, people often conflate police and the military because they tend to be big, strong men and women trained to shoot people.

But here's the thing. Police receive training in community engagement. They operate in civilian populations every day. Plus, they receive training in the laws and regulations of their community, their state, and the nation. (Putting aside the fact that many, many police in America are terrible, violent, and a blight on their communities).

Soldiers are NOT trained in any of that.

There may be a big, strong National Guardsman on your street corner, but you can't trust that he'll be an effective crime deterrent or law enforcer, because that's not what he's trained to do. He's more likely to stand there ineffectually or cause problems himself. Given that trained police often don't understand civil rights or due process, why would you expect soldiers to?

The bottom line is that soldiers are not trained law enforcement officers and expecting them to be is unfair to them, and unfair to the citizenry that are obviously expected to obey them. (Ask the Iraqis how that worked out.)

As Commander William Adama said: 

"There's a reason we separate military and the police: one fights the enemy of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."

It is illegal to deploy American troops on American soil for that very reason. And this invasion of our own troops is going to quickly expand to other cities, also not guilty of the hellscape designation that MAGA have given them. These troops are not there to fight crime. They are there to quell dissent, attack and arrest protest and resistance, and end American democracy in favor of a king. A really petty, stupid, king.

Don't support this.