(Boise, Idaho) – At the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed passage of the Defend the Guard Act. This is a state-level bill which would prohibit the deployment of National Guard units into active combat without an official declaration of war by Congress.
A biotech entrepreneur and author, Ramaswamy placed third among Republican primary voters in the most recent poll conducted by Fox News. He is the first presidential candidate of the 2024 cycle to endorse the Defend the Guard Act.
Ramaswamy’s endorsement was first reported by the New Hampshire Libertarian Party. Their tweet was subsequently retweeted by Vivek Ramaswamy as confirmation.
The Defend the Guard Act was introduced in New Hampshire as H.B. 229. It was one of nineteen states where a version of the bill was sponsored during the 2023 legislative season. It is set to be reintroduced next session.
“Every president who raises his right hand to take the oath of office is endorsing the Defend the Guard Act. This bill is fully compliant with Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which requires a vote by Congress before our brave men and women in uniform can be sent into combat,” explained Sgt. Dan McKnight, chairman of Bring Our Troops Home. “Unfortunately, no president in the twenty-first century has demonstrated fidelity to the separation of powers and instead they’ve exercised dictatorial control over questions of war and peace. When the federal government usurps its lawful authority, the sovereign states must intervene and correct the imbalance. That is how our federal system was always intended to function, and it’s why we must pass Defend the Guard legislation.”
Sgt. Dan McKnight is a thirteen-year veteran of the U.S. military, with service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, U.S. Army, and Idaho Army National Guard, including an eighteen month combat deployment in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007.
In 2019 McKnight founded Bring Our Troops Home, a national, non-partisan veterans organization which advocates the return of congressional war powers and an immediate end of the United States’ unconstitutional wars in the Middle East and Africa. The Defend the Guard movement is the keystone project of Bring Our Troops Home.
“Vivek Ramaswamy’s pledge to not deploy the National Guard into undeclared wars is a welcomed message, and demonstrates that he is someone who takes the role of commander in chief seriously,” McKnight continued. “I encourage him to support our efforts to pass Defend the Guard in state legislatures, and ask all other 2024 candidates of both parties to follow his lead in defending the integrity of our National Guard and our Constitution.”
For more information about the Defend the Guard movement, visit DefendTheGuard.US. To interview Sgt. Dan McKnight, contact Communications Director Hunter DeRensis at hderensis@outlook.com.
I do not like Vivek Ramaswamy but agree with him that the “Defend The Guard Act” is good.
Yep return the guard to what is was, one weekend a month to shoot guns and drink beer. Provide help to the community during natural disasters, and finally if something existential comes along go defend the USA.
Two weeks in the Summer.