Just to show that I know that there can be more sides to a question:

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes.



And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war . . . and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

--James Madison, April 20, 1795

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."

--James Madison, while a United States Congressman



Thanks to Jerry Pournelle's website.

BTW, the Founding Fathers' fear of what abuses could evolve from a standing army was one reason for the ideal of the Second Amendment and an armed force comprised of citizen volunteers.