O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
Last weekend, Americans woke up to discover that the United States had begun military operations against Iran.
There had been no congressional vote authorizing war. No national address clearly explaining the mission. No open debate about the risks, the objectives, or the cost in American lives.
Instead, the news arrived suddenly — and for many families in Manchester, it landed much closer to home than Washington policymakers may realize.
Members of the New Hampshire National Guard, including men and women who live and work in Manchester, could now find themselves deployed into a conflict whose purpose and duration remain uncertain. These are our neighbors. They coach youth sports, attend our churches, and work in our hospitals, construction sites, and small businesses.
They are not distant figures in a Pentagon press briefing. They are part of our community.
When the United States enters a war, the Constitution is clear about how that decision is supposed to occur. Article I gives Congress the authority to declare war precisely because sending citizens into combat is the most serious responsibility a democracy can undertake.
The framers of our Constitution believed that such a decision must be debated openly by the representatives of the people. War should never be launched casually or quietly.
Yet that is exactly how this conflict has begun.
For cities like Manchester — the largest city in New Hampshire and home to many Guard families — that raises deeply personal questions.
If Manchester residents are being asked to fight in a new Middle East war, what are the objectives? What does success look like? How long might this conflict last?
These questions are not abstract policy debates. They matter to parents waiting for phone calls from deployed sons and daughters. They matter to spouses suddenly carrying the weight of family life alone. They matter to employers trying to support workers who serve in the Guard.
Manchester understands military service. Many of our residents have worn the uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflicts. We have welcomed them home with pride — and we have also seen the long-term toll that war can take on families and communities.
That experience should make us cautious about entering another conflict without a clear national conversation.
At the same time, Manchester is seeing increased federal enforcement activity from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration policy is a federal responsibility, but its impact is felt locally in schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces across our city.
Manchester has long been a place where people from different backgrounds build lives together. Our city’s strength comes from community trust, civic participation, and a shared commitment to the rule of law. When federal actions raise anxiety or uncertainty within neighborhoods, local leaders have a responsibility to ensure that transparency and fairness remain guiding principles.
These two developments — a sudden war abroad and heightened federal enforcement at home — remind us how decisions made far from Manchester can profoundly affect life here.
New Hampshire’s state motto, “Live Free or Die,” reflects a tradition of independence and accountability. Granite Staters expect their leaders to ask difficult questions, especially when lives are at stake.
If the United States is entering a new war in the Middle East, the American people deserve to understand why. Congress should debate it openly. The goals should be clear. The risks should be acknowledged.
And if members of the New Hampshire National Guard from Manchester are being sent into that conflict, the families of this city deserve honesty and transparency from those who lead our state and nation.
War should never arrive quietly.
And the people of Manchester deserve to know why their neighbors may soon be asked to fight.
David Preece represents Manchester in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and is a longtime urban and regional planner who previously served as executive director of the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission.
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