imported post
The "standing army" argument is interesting.
The Swiss manage with only 5% of their military force as "regular soldiers". Granted, they don't get involved in too many military adventures.
Following the Second World War, American psychologists (and others) studied the effectiveness of soldiers. They found that the most effecive soldiers were ones who had volunteered, but were not regulars.
So, the guys walked into a recruiting station, were whisked off for a few months fitness and weapons' training, then found themselves in Italy or Northern Europe, or the Pacific.
The theory is that these chaps were more flexible in their approach to tactical situations...they were less hidebound by years of training in the "received wisdom" of combat. They "learned-on-the -ob" or quickly became casualties.
As I recall, chaps in Northern Europe, who were "engaged" in one day out of three, reached their "combat peak" after about 14 days. This is a surprisingly short time. Thereafter, their efficiency began to fall off, until after about 6-8 weeks, they were practically spent and ineffective.
IMO, a large and well-funded National Guard is the way to go. Sure, there are some jobs which require full-time personnel, but how many? It would be interesting to find out.
Furthermore, a large Guard would encourage the voting public to get "involved" with politics. Every man would take an interest in his Country's dealings if he thought that his "own boots" might be "on the ground" in some sandy dung-hole of a country.
We, of course (in UK) have done the complete opposite...delegating to the State the complete responsibility for our security. There is only a small "National Guard" over here. Most soldiers are employed full-time.The result is that no-one really takes much interest in our military adventures...unless they start to become expensive and we have to dig into our wallets.
Nah, too cynical.
But, the best thing about the Swiss system is that it promotes democracy. It gives its citizens responsibility (they are required to keep their military personal weapons at home). And, we all know that it is a necessary requirement of the oppressive state that the populace first be disarmed.
On balance, I think that your Founding Fathers were absolutely right.
ps. The Swiss' society is remarkably peaceable, despite 40% of its households having "assaultweapons". Or, so I'm told. I never actually visited Switzerland.