👁️Pentagon deploys Marines under Insurrection Act for L.A. surveillance operation

Federal troops conducting surveillance of political gatherings creates chilling effects that prevent citizens from exercising constitutional rights. Democratic participation requires freedom from government intimidation, but military monitoring turns peaceful assembly into potential criminal activity subject to federal investigation.

Facial recognition, cell phone tracking, and social media monitoring systems built for protest surveillance expand to target any political opposition. Citizens lose privacy rights when exercising democratic participation while government agencies gain tools for comprehensive political control that threaten opposition parties and independent journalism.

The 1878 law preventing military enforcement of civilian law gets ignored when presidents deploy troops for protest control. This precedent allows future executives to use military force for any domestic purpose they classify as maintaining order, concentrating unprecedented coercive power in presidential hands without legislative oversight.

Military deployment for domestic law enforcement undermines local police relationships with communities while federalizing law enforcement decisions. Citizens lose input into policing policies that affect their neighborhoods while democratic accountability disappears under federal military control that answers only to presidential authority.