Will The Military Become The Police? - 11

Bad moon rising

No, they won't.

Why?

They already are, aren't they (What if U.S. stops policing the world?, The United States Must Be the World’s Policeman) ?

They now have so many weapons that they will provide them without real-world vetting to those who ask nicely (A government agency tricked the Defense Department into handing over $1.2 million in weapons to fake police).

The point is that they are willing to police just about anything or anybody.

But, more than that, they are also willing to replace civilians in government positions traditionally held by civilians, which is causing some concern in places that might surprise you, and which is not causing any concern in other places, which also might surprise you.

The reasons for that policy are or should be obvious, but the situation is now so stark that I can also ask "should the military police the White House?"

Some, who are politically distant from me on some issues, also see the concern that I see:

"Gen. John Kelly has been brought to the West Wing with a mission so often given to military officers amid chaos: restore order and discipline. Kelly is a man of sterling reputation and achievement, and his appointment has produced a rush of optimism throughout the country and especially among Republicans. This is a problem ... the problem is that the public’s eagerness to see a general impose order on the White House--
...
This is a complete reversal of long-lasting and stable traditions of American civil-military relations. The United States has a civilian commander in chief in order to provide a civilian check on the power of the military, not the other way around. To hope that Kelly and H.R. McMaster in the White House, and Gen. James Mattis at the Pentagon, will somehow restrain the president’s erratic impulses is a terrible development in our history, not because these are not fine men, but because too much reliance on them corrodes a key principle of the American constitutional order."

(The Federalist, emphasis added). Did you see it coming, or where it is leading (Real News)?

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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"We spend more on national security than the rest of the world combined ..."

"The Military is the lead federal agency on climate change ... and that is ... extremely dangerous ... we may lose the republic ..." - Professor Wilkerson (video)

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