Dredd Blog: A Tale of Coup Cities

Thursday, November 3, 2016

A Tale of Coup Cities - 13

A "coup" in the context of this series, is an inordinate change that has taken place where it should not have ("coup ... a highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move" - Dictionary).

A coup can occur without violence.

It can also take place surreptitiously, as did the coup in the U.S.eh?, which General Wesley Clark spoke of (A Tale of Coup Cities - 2).

A coup can even be noticed intellectually, then spoken of poetically without the use of the word "coup" ("In the home of the brave Jefferson is turning over in his grave" - Bob Dylan, Slow Train).

As is taught in some of the military institutions that "educate" (education is a form of indoctrination - Noam Chomsky) the coup is their traditionally preferred method of defeating an "enemy":

Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

(Is War An Art or Is War A Disease?). But, even the policy of one's own nation can become an "enemy" and deserving of a coup, according to some military intellectuals:

The U.S. military keeps searching the horizon for a peer competitor, the challenger that must be taken seriously. Is it China? What about an oil rich and resurgent Russia?

But the threat that is most likely to hobble U.S. military capabilities is not a peer competitor, rather it is health care.

(The Enemy the Pentagon Should Fear Most: Health Care). However, some of the military generals do not like non-violent coups:

The Lord is a warrior and in Revelation 19 it says when he comes back, he's coming back as what? A warrior. A mighty warrior leading a mighty army, riding a white horse with a blood-stained white robe ... I believe that blood on that robe is the blood of his enemies 'cause he's coming back as a warrior carrying a sword.

And I believe now - I've checked this out - I believe that sword he'll be

"Jesus is coming with an AR-15" - U.S. General

carrying when he comes back is an AR-15.

Now I want you to think about this: where did the Second Amendment come from? ... From the Founding Fathers, it's in the Constitution. Well, yeah, I know that. But where did the whole concept come from? It came from Jesus when he said to his disciples 'now, if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'

I know, everybody says that was a metaphor. IT WAS NOT A METAPHOR! He was saying in building my kingdom, you're going to have to fight at times. You won't build my kingdom with a sword, but you're going to have to defend yourself. And that was the beginning of the Second Amendment, that's where the whole thing came from. I can't prove that historically and David [Barton] will counsel me when this is over, but I know that's where it came from.

And the sword today is an AR-15, so if you don't have one, go get one. You're supposed to have one. It's biblical.

(Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala - 4). So much for Sun Tzu, so, one must ponder which of these military philosophies will dominate.

Will it remain the surreptitious coup, or will the violent coup take the day (Will The Military Become The Police?, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

For the time being, the surreptitious coup is for the most part able to carry the day:

President Barack Obama let Republicans have it Wednesday for their change of tune on how they might deal with Supreme Court vacancies.

Speaking at a rally for Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, the president pointed the finger at that battleground state’s Sen. Richard Burr. Obama chided Burr, who is fighting for his own re-election, over his recent vow to leave the high court short-handed for four more years if Clinton wins next week.

“Some are saying they won’t appoint a ninth Supreme Court justice at all,” Obama said. He noted Burr “just said that if Hillary wins, he’ll do everything he can to block all Supreme Court nominations.”

Since mid-October, Republican senators have been rolling out a new pretext for refusing to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Now their principles may bar them from voting for anybody nominated by a Democrat, regardless of whether the American people chose that Democrat to be president.

(Coup RE: Supreme Court Nominees, emphasis added). This type of coup may carry the day, but it will not suffice for tomorrow.

This is because of how the people have been educated to think:

In the first post of this series, we pointed out that most Americans polled in an annual Gallup Poll think that the military is the most competent institution in America.

In that post we perused Gallup Poll figures from 2009, as shown on the graphic to the left (red lines added).

Today in 2011, the military is still seen as the most competent American institution, according to this year's Gallup Poll, even though the wars they are prosecuting are not at all popular.

Let's take a look for reasons and realities as to how it is that the military, once considered the lackey for the tyranny of the tyrants, has come full circle to invade and occupy the hearts of a once freedom loving people.

(Stockholm Syndrome on Steroids? - 2, emphasis added). So, one might ask what will be done when the civil institutions, which are not as competent as the military in the mind of way too many Americans, fail to operate anymore.

What will be done when the Supreme Court becomes extinct by an ongoing coup, when the middle class becomes extinct by an ongoing coup, yes, when the America of old becomes extinct by ongoing coups?

Surely, what will replace them will be empty of public freedom, according to those who conceived embronic America in a way that it could eventually become great:

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 of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established.

(Stockholm Syndrome on Steroids? - 2, quoting The Author of the Bill of Rights). The unnerving part of this is that we can't vote our way out of it (The Elections of Pontius Pilots, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Perhaps the reason for the coup, as to the U.S. Supreme Court, is not so surreptitious a reason for a coup:

While executive officers can declare the military reasonableness of conduct amounting to torture, it is beyond the power of even the President to declare such conduct lawful. The same is true for any other applicable legal prohibition. The fact that the President -- let alone a significantly inferior executive officer -- opines that certain conduct is lawful does not determine the actual lawfulness of that conduct. The determination of specific violations of law is constitutionally committed to the courts, even if that law touches military affairs.