Martial Law

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. We’ve all heard the phrase. We’ve probably also all heard some variations on it, like, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping” or “go fishing” or “go to the beach.”

But sometimes, when the going really gets tough, the government decides that going fishing just isn’t going to cut it, and they bring in the military to run things for a while.

This is what’s known as “martial law,” and it usually happens as a result of some kind of disaster, whether natural, economic, political, social, or whatever.

Martial law is a big deal and it doesn’t happen very often. Basically, when a government (in the U.S., this decision is made by POTUS) decides it needs order restored ASAP and can’t do it the usual way, they bring in the military. Here in the U.S., martial law has been imposed a few times, like in Hawaii after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, in the South after the Civil War, and in San Francisco after the great earthquake of 1906. “Martial law” doesn’t mean the Navy has taken over for our state legislature or anything like that; more likely, it means we’ll see curfews, driving checkpoints, and probably an armed military presence in and around the affected area.

It can be a little disconcerting, but the good news is that martial law is a temporary state of affairs: once the crisis has passed, or at least is somewhat under control again, the military goes back to doing what it normally does, and the government resumes governing. Or pretending to.