This isn’t the Whiskey Rebellion

Re “America wants Trump to fight crime,” Opinion Voices, Sept. 7

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NATIONAL GUARD troops stand outside Union Station in Washington.

CONTRIBUTING writer Josh Hammer is trying to rewrite history with this oped. To support President Trump’s threat to send the military to police blue cities like Chicago and Baltimore, Hammer claims that history is on Trump's side and cites President Washington's suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.

This is a false analogy. Washington led troops into western Pennsylvania to put down a violent uprising of farmers who were flouting a new federal law that taxed whiskey. That’s very different from sending federal troops to perform normal urban policing functions.

Hammer's assertion that “federal force has been called in, or sent in, to assist state-level law enforcement plenty of times” fails to appreciate the current circumstances and purpose of Trump's proposal. By misinterpreting the past to justify Trump's actions, Hammer proves what Orwell said 75 years ago: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” We can't forget “1984.”

Hammer has chosen to gloat instead of questioning the wisdom of consolidating so much power in the executive branch. But the powers Trump now claims, and Hammer now applauds, could create a starkly different existence in the hands of a Democratic administration.

Imagine a Democratic president declaring threats to “national security” (no less plausible than those Trump has declared) concerning climate change, civil rights, education, healthcare and gun violence. Imagine the National Guard or Army pouring into red states to “safeguard” the health, safety, liberty and security of the citizens. Imagine armed troops making sure no more oil is pumped, or stationed inside hospitals to ensure women aren't kept from receiving reproductive medical care, or in schools ever vigilant that antiscience and religious quackery don’t seep into curriculum.