Texas GOP Voters Demand End to Unconstitutional National Guard Deployments

In the latest indication that rank-and-file Republicans are ready to move on from an era of senseless and unconstitutional militarism, a whopping 84% of Texas GOP voters on Tuesday backed a resolution demanding that the Lone Star State reject any deployment of National Guard troops to a combat zone without a congressional declaration of war.    

The proposition, one of 13 non-binding questions put to Republican voters in Tuesday's primary election, said, "The Texas Legislature should prohibit the deployment of the Texas National Guard to a foreign conflict unless Congress first formally declares war."

The proposition's presence on the Texas ballot is a testament to the growing momentum of the nationwide "Defend the Guard" movement, which is led by Bring Our Troops Home, a group of Global War on Terror veterans and like-minded civilians seeking an end to "endless wars."

"To paraphrase that great frontiersman, Davy Crockett, the military-industrial complex can go to hell, and I'll go to Texas," said Dan McKnight, founder and chairman of Bring Our Troops Home and a veteran of an 18-month deployment to Afghanistan.  

With the help of allies like the libertarian 10th Amendment Center, Bring Our Troops Home is pushing state legislators to advance model legislation that would prevent governors from releasing National Guard soldiers into active federal duty in combat zones without proper congressional authorization.   

"'Defend the Guard' legislation does not nullify federal law. It only obligates the federal government to follow what is already federal law — Congress’ duty to declare war — as outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution." -- Defend The Guard

While no state has yet enacted such a law, the concept is gaining traction. Last week, the Idaho Senate passed the Defend the Guard Act in a lopsided 27-8 vote. The measure now advances to the Idaho House of Representatives for consideration.

"This is the third legislative body to pass Defend the Guard this year, following New Hampshire and Arizona," wrote Bring Our Troops Home on the social media platform previously called Twitter. Our bill sponsor, [Ben Adams], a U.S. Marine who served two tours in Afghanistan, was present at our organization’s founding in 2019. It’s taken four years of labor to reach this point." 

The Texas proposition's overwhelming victory and the Idaho Senate's passage of a Defend the Guard bill come weeks after three members of the Georgia National Guard were killed in a drone strike on their base in Jordan. According to a US Air Force airman the facility is a base for American drones used to conduct reconnaissance and targeting operations in Syria and Iraq. 

Aside from the steep toll that unconstitutional deployments take on service-members and their families, they also deprive states of National Guard resources during crises at home. As noted in a Defend the Guard deep-dive at Stark Realities:

"When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, thousands of the states’ National Guard soldiers were deployed to Iraq. Mississippi’s 223rd Engineer Battalion returned to repair hurricane damage—but was ordered to leave its equipment in Iraq for use by other units.

In 2020, as Oregon endured some of its worst wildfires ever, half the state’s National Guard helicopters were in Afghanistan, including all its CH-47 Chinooks—dual-rotor choppers capable of carrying 26,000-pound payloads and ideal for use in firefighting. The Oregon Guard did what it could with Blackhawk helicopters that have one tenth the lifting power."

The Defend the Guard movement is led by conservative and libertarian vets. “Every one of us raised our hands and swore an oath to the Constitution…and when it says Congress shall be the only body to declare war, we take that to heart," said McKnight.  "And when Congress doesn’t do it, we understand bad things can happen: long, endless foreign misadventures."