(05-11-2017, 02:10 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: I have to wonder - at what point people who really care about the US, and who have the power to orchestrate it, would do a coup?
1. Pervasive fraudulence of the election. It's not one part of the election. A Senator or Representative can be unseated if vote fraud, even if the elected official is not culpable, can be shown to have occurred that would have undeniably altered the election. That is a high standard even in an individual instance, and it is unlikely to change the electoral balance.
Fraudulence would include illegal interference by a criminal enterprise, foreign power or a foreign corporation, especially if one offers quid pro quo. Such would require a bare win in which funding from suspect sources creates the impression of such support deciding the election. Or there is some blatant fraud such as tampering with voting equipment. It would have to be large enough to decide a majority in one or the other House of Congress or the Presidency and be unambiguous in cause. It must fit the level of proof suitable for a criminal conviction, and affected offices must simply endorse the fraud, denying recourse.
That is a very tough standard. A President or Congress made by (and I am using any Japanese players only as illustrations while suggesting that no imaginable Japanese entity is involved this time) -- the Yakuza (crime syndicate), the Japanese government, or Toyota Corporation.
2. Blatant violations of Constitutional practice. The President dissolves Congress (not a right in this system), suspends habeas corpus without a valid rationale, orders political opponents arrested or killed, or violates Congressional immunity. In essence, the President has destroyed democracy. Or Congress acts to expel the opposition Party without recognized cause or passes legislation outlawing the other Party. In essence, Congress has destroyed democracy. Or either the President or Congress has established a secret police or empowered an existing police to do summary justice.
3. Overt criminality. Among those are war crimes, crimes against peace, or crimes against humanity.
4. Obstruction of justice -- a blatant violation of the principle of rule of law. Nixon went down for that.
We have no provision for any revolution or military coup in the Constitution. But don't be stupid. There was Salvador Allende in Chile. Yes, Allende was a socialist -- but at some point I can imagine some general telling the President that it would be wise to vacate the Presidency.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.