"Quartering Troops" sounds archaic, but every now and then lawmakers propose it, like forcing private airlines to provide discounted or free arrangements for servicemen traveling. (As opposed to negotiating rates with them, or soliciting competitive bids). These proposals usually don't get very far, but it shows you that the Government still thinks it's OK to _force_ a citizen or private business to give free services or accommodations to soldiers.

(For example, see https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/congressman-bruce-... and https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/delta-troops-afgha... The Government should reimburse him, and try to negotiate the best rates from the Airlines. I'd be all for the Airlines offering a discount, but they shouldn't be forced to.)

Disregarding what the law says, the material reality is that American society today largely respects and thinks highly of the US military, and is not as skeptical of federal government's standing armies.

This, by the way, tells you a great deal about how far away the modern American society is from its own founding principles - and especially so among the people who otherwise profess their infatuation with them (and who tend to be more pro-military and pro-police).

aren't we already quartering troops with the proportion of taxes that support the DoD?

I think the idea is that directly quartering troops is certain to be much more capricious and unequal than paying taxes. Everyone (with some narrow exceptions) is supposed to pay taxes, while only those families who have nice houses in convenient locations (and beautiful teenage daughters!) will have to quarter troops directly.

No. They aren't forcing a particular private party to provide personal accommodations to an individual soldier.

At the margin, people would begin moving to different states.

The current system has some pros (which you enumerate), but also some massive cons in the form of high exit costs, since you're exiting the entire federal apparatus rather than the government of a single state.

> At the margin, people would begin moving to different states.

"They can simply move away" is a fantasy solution. 99% people would/could not move until/unless it became a crisis situation.

Sure, you could move, but what about your infirm parents? The costs are already high for between-states moves.

Completely agreed. The argument I heard made before is "if people can just move, why do gay people live in [state with no civil protections for gay rights]?" It's an easy one to answer. Family, job, social connections, money; those are just a few. Then comes the question of how free should each state be or not be? What if you are born, for example, both gay and a native Texan[0]? Should Texas have the right to "force" you out of where you were born and bred simply because a majority of its legislature detests gay people?

0 - The choice of Texas was deliberate because I am a native Texan so I'm not "picking on" any state other than "my own."

I grew up moving as my father changed jobs, and I continued the practice on my own when I turned 18. I'm at least 1k miles from any family, and I've had to make new friends many times. It's really not that big of a deal for many people. I think most people I know in Colorado were not born here.

I don't disagree. I, also, don't live where I was born or grew up, though it took a few decades of my existing on this planet before I was ready to move more than one county away from where I was born. But, like others point out, we are decidedly in the minority.

My anecdote is to point to the rest of my parents' children along with my parents' siblings and their children. All told, you wind up with about a hundred people (big families, lots of cousins). Out of all of them, I am the only one who does not live in Texas. And, out of all of them, I am one of only five who do not live in the 30-county area known as "Northeast Texas."

It's not like my extended family members are destitute or have some external tie to where they all live (e.g. they're not all "Texas Bluebonnet Genetic Researchers" or something like that). Yet none of them could fathom living anywhere else and every year at the big family reunion, I am still (quite a few years later) peppered with earnest, wide-eyed questions about how it is to live so far from "home."

As for your experience in Colorado, my experience and that of those who I know is that it "non-natives" tend to make friends with other non-natives than with native-born people. Why? The native-born people who live where they were raised still have those social and familial connections that were made over many years. Combine that with the trend of people seeking and making fewer friend connections as they grow older and the odds grow more slim.

It's not a big deal for most affluent well educated people (I live 18,456km from my birthplace and most of my family), but according to a 2015 study only 20% of Americans live more than a few hours drive from their parents and most live within 18 miles (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/upshot/24up-f...)

Me too, but I'm pretty sure we're in the minority. Most people I've talked to my entire lives did not move nearly as much as I did (I went to a different school for each grade from 3-9).

There is a reason communist countries had to close their boarder. Because if they didn't, too many of the good people would leave andv that would hurt the country to much. If enough people could leave a communist country to cause them to worry, then surly moving from oppressive states should be common

It cuts both ways. One central government squishing civil rights or 50 states each having to squish civil rights? I do tend to agree to the supremacy of the bill of rights which is supposed to be just a restatement of natural rights and is a hands off to government in general.