Canada

I feel like by that time it is too late. It seems like a pretty dangerous skill to learn and learning under time constraints would be rough. But I can see the downsides.

Honestly, that's my feeling too. The good news is that not every single person applying the munitions would need to know how to manufacture them, simply to deploy and arm them. The Russian's use of anti-tank mines against Thrid Reich railway lines comes to mind - the conscripts carrying the mines, locating the rail lines, and planting them to destroy trains and railway infrastructure weren't homebrewing them in a shed at home. They were supplied by the state and trained on how to use them, in a way that maybe similar to how modern army forces know how to use Stingers/MANPADS but not how to build them or the components.

Cool

The National Guard most definitely is NOT his. It is absolutely clear that the commander-in-chief of the national Guard is the State Governor. Trump is nowhere in the command chain. Under no circumstances does the National Guard have to obey Trump. Never has obeyed a President, never will.

America never was, really, a 'democratic' country in the sense that so many were always denied the right to vote. It was 'democratic' only in the sense that those who were enfranchised to vote, could exercise that franchise given that they met certain conditions.

The original Constitution only enfranchised white male landowners to vote. If you met that threshold, you had the 'democratic right to vote'. Oh, wait, you also had to meet a list of other requirements, as well. For instance, you could be any religion you wanted, as long as it had God at the top. It was imperative to swear an oath to God. The original Constitution made that clear. No atheists or non-God-fearing need even try to vote. THAT was what they originally meant by 'freedom of religion' - freedom to worship God any way you wanted. It did NOT allow for 'freedom to NOT have a religion'.

You are right in the sense that the Constitution is being ignored. That is all part of Vance and the 2025 Manifesto. Trump will go one step too far, Vance will lead the impeachment procedures against Trump for Treason to the Constitution, Vance becomes President, and gets a totally free hand to implement his own 2025 Manifesto agenda. Incidentally, the splitting up of America leaving only a pure Republican union, ensuring the Democratic states never interfere again, is all part and parcel of the 2025 plan. Vance would rather be President of a 'pure' Republican nation than have to contend with the turmoil and chaos the Democrats would cause. That is why America is as close to civil war as it was before the start of Civil War 1.0 back almost two centuries ago. The fact is, the more the Constitution loses relevance, the more likely succession by states becomes. At some point, the Constitution becomes so irrelevant that individual states will see absolutely no need to follow it in any shape or form. They will fall back on State constitutions for their governance.

I predict, that soon the Republicans will use the turmoil over the existing Constitution, seeing as the existing Constitution is failing so badly, as a reason to completely rewrite the Constitution as they feel it should have been written And every person who points out how badly the current constitution is failing, just feeds into that argument, and America comes all that closer to ensuring a Vance victory.

I see you're trans. I'm trans too - and if a foreign power like a fascist America comes to bring us "freedom" I sure as hell am picking up gun if I'm fit to, or whatever else is needed. It doesn't have to be in service of a state, what about your community?? Pacifism is such a bullshit ideology.

Military OR CIVIL service. Reading isn't for everyone.

When facing a fascist and authoritarian regime, it comes down to a very simple question:

Do you want to die on your knees, or do you want to die on your feet?

There really isn’t any kind of a third option, unless you want to turn traitor and become a collaborator. Which I don’t think you’re going to be given that option.

They seem to be proposing the sort of normal military service that used to be fairly common, although exactly universal in peacetime. The sort of marksmaship that they're describing exists even in countries with strict gun control like South Korea, Germany and Britain. It pays off in spades in cases where war comes home and civilians must be relied upon to defend against invasion.

Some of the European countries phased their mandatory conscription programs out as recently as the 90's-00's, and it's maybe not the ones you might first assume who had them in the first place - the Danes, Swedes, Finns, the Swiss, etc. Others still have conscription in case of war, but that's not so unusual at all, and may not mean front-line posts for many who're unfit for the duty for one reason or the other.

Many roles in a nation's military are far from the front, everything from administrative, intelligence analysis, supplies and warehousing, medical roles - there's a pretty wide spread of tasks beyond holding a gun and firing it at your nation's enemies.

I am not advocating. However, we should all understand that there are many countries with mandatory military service that do not use them in war.

In addition to military preparedness and defence, it can be an opportunity for greater citizen engagement and to significantly invest in training and skills. This has social and economic benefits beyond war.

Sweden has mandatory military service. How many wars have they started in your lifetime.

Again, not taking a position. Just pointing out that mandatory military service does not have to translate into young men in body bags.

You make great points, but some of the dehumanizing advantages used in the Middle East would me much less affective here...Canadians are just north of us, and not on the other side of the world. Their customs, traditions, religions, and holidays are similar to ours, and they look just like us. I'd bet that a good number of Americans have Canadian relatives. I live in VA, and my neighbors wife has dual US/Canadian citizenship, as she's originally from Canada.

I'm originally from Erie, PA - going up to Niagara Falls was a regular day trip we'd do several times per year. Funny enough, I've never been to the American side of the falls. I've seen it grow from a destination where you could simply parallel park your car next to the railing looking over the falls, to the tourist trap destination it is today.

The good thing about the education system is that no matter how they try to defend and dumb it down, our people still have to compete with the global, population. We can't import all of our mental talent. Schoolmaster the only place where people gain an education. Kids are smart, resilient, and can often see past the ill-will of adults, no matter how many toys and candies they have.

The great thing about trump may be that he's so fucking terrible, that he may end up pushing people (voters) to make better, more sensible decisions at the voting booth, more than any other politician possibly can. What he's doing, is not only about values, ideas, and hate anymore. He's actually affecting the bank accounts and livelihood of the people who voted for him, and nothing about any of his policies will result in them not being damaged in at least some way. He is so fucking terrible that he may actually be the catalyst to snap the US out of this "conservative populist march towards fascism."