Well, Governor Rod Blagojevich won’t surrender his arms:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich put the Pentagon on formal notice Monday that he will not approve its proposed move of F-16 fighter aircraft from the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield to Indiana.
In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the governor argued that under federal law if he does not consent to the realignment, the change can not legally be made.
What do you think it means?
I’m pretty sure that USAF still owns those planes, no matter what the Governor thinks.
I love how they choose not to actually mention what law applies here for people to read for themselves… they just talk about “federal law” as if it’s this nebulous thing.
I think the governor is going to find that the airplanes are going to take off for training flights and just land somewhere else.
Perhaps they should move the governor to Indiana as well.
Huh–It’s an ANG wing, apparently being moved to another state. What are the legalities of this? Presumably the 183rd are members of the Illinois ANG, not the Indiana ANG. If they’re part of the militia they can be moved to another state to suppress insurrection and repel invasion, neither of which I think is happening in Indiana right now.
Or the feds can dis-establish the 183rd and tell the Indiana ANG to recruit some more.
I too am pretty sure the AF still owns them. If need be, the 183rd will be stood down and deorganized, and a “new” wing will appear in Indiana.
But wait, if the state militias are the supposed recipient of the 2nd amendment to counterbalance federal power, how can the federal government simply remove those arms? Oh yeh, because that whole argument was absurd and made no sense. That why.
Originally the ‘state militia’ were under the control of their respective states (hence the name). They started moving under federal control in 1903 (Dick act)in return for federal funding. The early control was more for uniformity in organization and training with the regular army. By 1916 (think about what was going on then), the National Defense Act they changed from individual state militias to reserve components of the regular army. This also required for all components to be federally recognized. In 1949, the Army and Air Force Authorization Act created the Air Force (as opposed to the previous Army Air Corps) and the Air National Guard.
Up shot of all this is that the Guv is right, the feds can’t move the 183rd to Indiana, but they can move the planes. The Guv’s objection that the state needs a wing there vs Iniana for homeland security is pretty hard to buy, but even if true would just mean they take that task away from the 183rd and put it on the wing in Indiana.
What this is really about is the Guv doesn’t want to lose a base. Boo Hoo. He can get in a long line of Senators, Representatives and other Govenors who haven’t liked the various base closings since we started the post-coldwar draw downs.
Blagojevich doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
The boy gov is afraid that Daley wants to close the Springfield airport. If the AF moves the protective aircraft – it leaves our poor governor without any protection from Richie and his band of merry bulldozers. I think the airport will be history just after midnight on the day the AF leaves. This means that the esteemed gov will have to actually MOVE his family to Springfield instead of flying back and forth to Chicago…
Presumably, the Second Amendment gives Illinois right the purchase its own jets, if it thinks that is necessary. Maybe 183rd can have a raffle or a bake-sale.
@Teresa:
What the heck? Daley is Mayor of Chicago. Chicago is not Springfield.
Just don’t move them any closer to Canada…
Sometimes I get really embarrassed to be from Illinois. Today is one of those days.
Interesting argument from the Gov. He’s is going to have some trouble though given Article I, Sections 8 & 10 of the Constitution. All in all it should make an interesting showdown if pursued. Realistically, however, I predict he’ll lose in court.
Secede Governor! Or do past failures of states seceding in hopes of retaining slaves slip your mind? The USAF isn’t property owned by the state of Illinois.
Looks like we’ve arrived at that glorious day that Lefties have always envisioned…. when the govt. has to hold a bake sale to buy a plane! Chicago land rejoice!!!
Illinois and Indiana have been negotiating for some time over regional airports for Chicago. Big money is involved – something like $11 billion will be spent for construction, and 6 to 10 thousand homes and businesses will be razed for the land. Illinois repubs are not too keen on having the Daly machine run the whole show. Whatever Blagojevich is up to, it is just a maneuver in a much bigger battle.
Re: “I love how they choose not to actually mention what law applies here for people to read for themselves… they just talk about ‘federal law’ as if it’s this nebulous thing.”
Others may wish to cultivate a habit I once acquired and regret I’ve allowed to slip. Cease using the expression “the law” except when referring to this law or that law. Use the expression “the laws” whenever you mean more than one. The problem with the expression “the law” is that it denotes a unity that the laws don’t have. The laws are a hodge-podge of wisdom and foolishness, and they don’t deserve to be dignified with singular number, as if they were some unitary, elegant construction.
@ Brian –
If you’ve been in Illinois long enough you know that Richie pretty much owns the whole state and all politicians therein (and he is not very happy with our governor lately). Thus I can take a jab at both with ease. *grin*
The Sloganeer said:
Presumably, the Second Amendment gives Illinois right the purchase its own jets…
I don’t think so. States (as well as other forms of government) don’t have rights, they have powers and authority. (Additionally, as a semantic quibble, none of the articles in the Bill of Rights “gives” a right. They merely protect rights that people are born with. If you believe that a right can be “given” by a government, then you may later find yourself believing that the government has the authority to take it away. But I digress.)
Blagojevich will find that this battle over the Guard has been fought by other states and already has been lost. Easiest way to get the airplanes out if Illinois is for the feds to activate & take control of the IL Air Guard, and order them to fly the planes to some other state. The President’s authority to do this was established as far back 1957 when Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard (which was being used by the Arkansas governor to block school integration). More recently, in the 1980s then-MA governor Dukakis filed suit to prevent MA Guard units from being used in Honduras, and the Supreme Court slapped Dukakis down.
I’m a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment as an individual right, and cases like this are good examples of why the “states right” concept is a sham. It ain’t much of a right if the government can take it away with the stroke of a pen, and that’s the way the laws are written concerning the National Guard.
32 USC 104 (c) and (d) are the controlling statutes.