Maine’s Republican delegates voted Saturday to add “Defend the Guard” to the party’s official platform after it was proposed by Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin).
With “Defend the Guard” as part of the platform, Republican legislators will be expected to work to prevent the deployment of the Maine State National Guard to any foreign conflict, unless the U.S. Congress officially issues a declaration of war as required by the U.S. Constitution.
“Happy to report my proposed #DefendTheGuard amendment to the Maine Republican Platform has passed overwhelmingly at today’s convention by a voice vote of the delegates. The Maine GOP joins the Republican parties of Texas, New Hampshire, and Georgia in adopting this language,” said Sen. Brakey on X.
The amendment was added to the party platform following overwhelming support from Republican delegates in a voice vote.
Supporters of the amendment have expressed their opposition to the deployment of U.S. National Guard members in numerous, seemingly endless conflicts across the globe, without an official declaration of war from Congress.
“I support the inclusion of “Defend our Guard” into the Maine Republican platform. The world is on fire and we are sending billions everywhere to fuel it. The Biden regime is reckless and they should not be allowed to deploy our National Guard men and women without a formal declaration of war by Congress,” said Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) in comments provided to The Maine Wire.
Rep. Soboleski is currently running against Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent) to become the Republican candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) for Maine’s second congressional district seat in the U.S. House.
U.S. Congress has only officially declared war during five conflicts throughout the nation’s history, the most recent being World War II.
The new amendment, modeled after initiatives in Texas, New Hampshire, and Georgia, will seek to reserve the Maine National Guard for the defense of Maine’s interests rather than deploying them thousands of miles from home.
The Maine Wire reached out to Brakey for comment on his strong support for the amendment.
“My friend, Sgt. Aaron Rollins, served multiple combat tours in Iraq in the Maine Army National Guard. He wanted constitutional accountability for those who send our sons and daughters to war,” said Brakey. “Sgt. Rollins championed this policy in the state legislature. We planned to submit this platform amendment together, but he tragically passed away earlier this year.”
“I wish he had been there to see the Maine Republican Party endorse Defend the Guard. He would have been proud,” said Brakey.
Delegates voted on twelve amendments to the party’s platform during Saturday’s Maine Republican Convention, with only four of them being formally approved.
Along with the “Defend the Guard” amendment, Republicans also approved an amendment calling for a free press without undue bias or censorship.
Additionally, Republican delegates approved an amendment opposing gender and sexuality theories being taught in Maine schools.
As the Maine Wire has reported, some Maine schools have secretly helped students to “socially transition,” calling them by their preferred transgender pronouns and name while concealing the transition from parents.
The other approved amendment changes the Republican platform on the apportionment of senate seats.
Delegates rejected proposals to add support for a gold standard economy and the re-establishment of the death penalty for serious crimes to the platform.
Delegates also failed to approve an amendment calling for the repeal of LD 227, a controversial bill that added protections for out-of-state adults bringing children into Maine for abortions and transgender procedures.
[RELATED: Mills Signs Extremely Controversial Transgender Trafficking Bill Into Law…]
Opponents claimed that, though they oppose LD 227, the language added to the platform was too long and confusing.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27616 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27616">7 Comments
1. Does this mean they won’t be deployed to Texas to stop illegal migrants from inflating the census in democrat states?
2. Good article. Raises some question about the intelligence of the ban tik tok, anti China, pro israel genocide idiots.
⬇️
TikTok Hypocrisy
Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
29 Apr 2024
P.S
prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his chief of staff and “defense”minister are all hiding in a spider hole from a potential ICC (International Criminal Court) arrest for genocide. Cowards.
Josh should right a commentary entitled. “No, ICC investigators, the chosen ones are not committing another genocide in the name of their satanic tribal deity” 🤣
Esau, The amendment says foreign conflict.
These pols in DC are happy to meddle everywhere around the globe as long as it’s your sons and daughters they are sending to do the dirty work.
We have “Maine Republicans” ? Last I knew they can’t even defend themselves from Ranked Choice Cheating. If they do still exist, they should focus more on the fact we have a marxist in the Blaine House and get rid of “it”….
Gee, does this mean the RNC will have a platform this year? They didn’t in 2020.
More proof that Republicans, even those in Maine, fully support Putin.
This is an article about nothing.
Congress doesn’t have to have declared war to deploy national guard, nor can maine pass any legislation to prevent guard personnel from out of state deployment.
This is as dumb as when trump called himself the wartime president
The republicans in maine are all drug addicts, they don’t make any damn sense.