Free Republic

Among GOP hopefuls at the first debate of the campaign season, militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out drugs and undocumented immigrants emerged as an overwhelmingly popular position—and as the surprising default answer to unrelated questions. When moderators asked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis whether he'd support sending U.S. Special Forces into Mexico to target drug cartels, he replied, "Yes, and I will do it on day one." DeSantis claimed that the president should "use all available powers as commander in chief to protect our country and to protect the people." "Yes, we're going to use deadly force," he continued. "Yes,...

This month, more Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles (MRAPs) have found their way from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the Main Streets of America. These are just the latest acquisitions in a growing practice by Pentagon that's militarizing America's municipal police forces. Police departments in Boise and Nampa, Idaho, each acquired an MRAP, as did the force in High Springs, Florida. The offer of war-ready machinery, at practically no cost, has proven hard to resist for local police departments. Increasingly, they are looking like soldiers equipped for battle. The growing similarity between our domestic police forces and the U.S. military...

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military. The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was...