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I've been reading the Constitution, and I noticed an interesting point: the only federal law enforcement authorized by the Constitution was the state militias,

I've been reading the Constitution, and I noticed an interesting point: the only federal law enforcement authorized by the Constitution was the state militias, which at the time consisted of all the able-bodied men of each state, and was commanded by officers from that State. This provided a check on the government that we have given up: how comfortable could the federal government be asking a non-professional group drawn from the general public, with their primary allegiance not to the federal government, but to a single state, to enforce a law that is inimical to their interests? I wonder if abandoning the state militias has helped cause the out of control federal law enforcement we see now.

api 6y ago
We've massively increased the role of the Federal government vs. what was outlined in the constitution. The most significant reason for this by far is war, particularly WWII and the Cold War. Other wars before these played a role but I feel like WWII was the turning point after which the US was a different place. We entered more or less a permanent state of war or war-readiness since then, and the Cold War provided a rationale to massively increase the size of our espionage apparatus. Originally the idea was that this spy apparatus would only be aimed outward, but that was always a fantasy. Anything we aim outward will eventually be aimed inward.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  I'd say that an even larger reason for federal-level law enforcement is the mobility that modern means of transportation brought. When the US was founded with its vision of autonomous states, there was not much mobility between states. It is no accident that the boom in the use of US marshals, postal police, and the Secret Service came with the building of the railways, making for crimes that spanned across states, for instance, while the FBI appeared in the automobile age. Once you get national-level police that inherently see themselves are superior to and unaccountable to state-level bodies, then it is no surprise that they might want to wield that power, and that might have happened even without those foreign wars the US was involved in.

api 6y ago

We've massively increased the role of the Federal government vs. what was outlined in the constitution. The most significant reason for this by far is war, particularly WWII and the Cold War. Other wars before these played a role but I feel like WWII was the turning point after which the US was a different place. We entered more or less a permanent state of war or war-readiness since then, and the Cold War provided a rationale to massively increase the size of our espionage apparatus. Originally the idea was that this spy apparatus would only be aimed outward, but that was always a fantasy. Anything we aim outward will eventually be aimed inward.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
I'd say that an even larger reason for federal-level law enforcement is the mobility that modern means of transportation brought. When the US was founded with its vision of autonomous states, there was not much mobility between states. It is no accident that the boom in the use of US marshals, postal police, and the Secret Service came with the building of the railways, making for crimes that spanned across states, for instance, while the FBI appeared in the automobile age. Once you get national-level police that inherently see themselves are superior to and unaccountable to state-level bodies, then it is no surprise that they might want to wield that power, and that might have happened even without those foreign wars the US was involved in.