05-12-2017, 10:02 AM
(05-11-2017, 10:56 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(05-11-2017, 08:17 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: 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.
Well, some would say we do have provisions for a revolution... Start with the 2nd Amendment. Actually, with the standing army needing re authorization every two years and the states having authority to appoint officers to the militia, one could say the founding fathers gave the matter significant thought. As the militia has not been trained in a century plus, replaced by the National Guard which is legally a federal standing army, the constitutional priming for revolution is no where near what it once was.
We haven't relied upon state-based militias to a great degree since the Civil War. We have state national guards who activate largely for local emergencies (like national disasters) and are effectively reserves for the regular armed services.
Quote:But ask a NRA flavored extreme partisan if there is a provision for revolution and they'll likely give you all the details. They are much more aware of these things than most blue leaning folk. Alas, many such NRA leaning people were the ones who elected Trump.
Of course the NRA is very right-wing, and it can more easily see an uprising against a 'Commie' like Obama than against a read-blooded American like Donald Trump.
Quote:I don't find it hard to imagine a general telling Trump to step down. I find it harder to imagine Trump listening.
In most coups it is the tanks, troop carriers, and missile-carrying trucks arrayed against the residence of the Prime Minister or President that do the convincing. Or it is a gun pointed at the vital organs of the nominal leader (which explains King Michael of Romania abdicating).
Reputedly, Washington DC streets are unusually flimsy so that heavy military equipment can't use them. Streets of Greater Miami? Not so flimsy.
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.