It was Euripedes who said: “Those whom the Gods seek to destroy they first make mad.”

It is a quotation that seems appropo as one sees the far right-wing in the US getting increasingly unhinged. Having lived in the US for almost 38 years, I have never come across a time when things were as polarized as they are today. Even during the sixties and early seventies when the country was undergoing massive social and political upheavals as a result of the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam culminating in the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, there seemed to be a greater semblance of sanity than exists today.

Gun sales in the US have gone through the roof – a result of the belief that Obama will seek to limit the ownership of guns and the conviction by fringe groups that the country is reaching a point when there will be an armed insurrection and citizens will need to be armed to protect themselves and the US as they knew it. Not only have gun sales reached record levels but apparently sales of ammunition are so huge that ammo is actually difficult to acquire because shops don’t have adequate inventories!

Then we have gold – the investment of last resort – at close to record prices with spot gold at over $1000 per ounce. What is more is that it is now difficult to actually acquire gold coins and if one is able to get them it is necessary to pay a premium of over $100 per ounce over the spot price. Again, the reason for the demand for gold is related to the belief that the economic system in the US and around the world is reaching a point of collapse where all paper money – including the dollar – will be worthless and inflation will be rampant making the the US currency analogous to that of the Weimar Republic or even Zimbabwe.

Some of these extreme reactions are the result of Barack Obama, an African-American, being elected president. We also have animosity resulting from a decisive victory by the Democrats resulting in the presidency, the Senate and the House being controlled by the Democrats. There was a similar hostility to Bill Clinton during the 90s’ when he was president with relentless attacks on him.

But what is different this go around, is the intensity of the opposition to Obama and the various conspiracy theories that are making the rounds which essentially claim that the US constitution is being subverted and what is being substituted is everything ranging from socialism or Marxism to the institution of a world government. These are claims by fringe right-wing groups – but the distressing thing is that the mainstream Republican leadership are not willing to take on these wackos and dissociate themselves from these outlandish claims and allegations.

Now we have a reached a new low: a right-wing publication, NewsMax, actually published an online column by John Perry suggesting that a bloodless military coup could be on the cards in the US to overthrow the Obama administration!

Now John Perry seems an unlikely candidate for propagating this sort of outlandish nonsense. He worked in the Johnson and Carter administrations but he makes no pretense of his opposition to Obama. NewsMax subsequently decided that the column was pushing the envelope to a dangerous level in, if not directly advocating a coup at least suggesting that it would be credible scenario, and so they deleted the column with the following explanation:

In a blog posting to Newsmax, John Perry wrote about a coup scenario involving the U.S. military. He clearly stated that he was not advocating such a scenario but simply describing one.

After several reader complaints, Newsmax wanted to ensure that this article was not misinterpreted. It was removed a short time after being posted.

Newsmax strongly believes in the principles of Constitutional government and would never advocate or insinuate any suggestion of an activity that would undermine our democracy or democratic institutions.

Mr. Perry served as a political appointee in the Carter administration in HUD and FEMA. He has no official relationship with Newsmax other than as an unpaid blogger.

So Perry’s column does not appear any longer on the NewsMax website but other websites “captured” it before it was taken down. Here is Perry’s article from Media Matters copied it before it was deleted :

“There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic. America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it won’t. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:

Officers swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to “obey the orders of the president of the United States.”

Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.

They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office.

They can see that the economy — ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation — is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.

They can see this president waging undeclared war on the intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile world overseas and at home.

They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America’s troop strength is allowed to sag.

They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react in time.

They can see the nation’s safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.

So, if you are one of those observant military professionals, what do you do?

Wait until this president bungles into losing the war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s arsenal of nuclear bombs falls into the hands of militant Islam?

Wait until Israel is forced to launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear-bomb plants, and the Middle East explodes, destabilizing or subjugating the Free World?

What happens if the generals Obama sent to win the Afghan war are told by this president (who now says, “I’m not interested in victory”) that they will be denied troops they must have to win? Do they follow orders they cannot carry out, consistent with their oath of duty? Do they resign en masse? Or do they soldier on, hoping the 2010 congressional elections will reverse the situation? Do they dare gamble
the national survival on such political whims?

Anyone who imagines that those thoughts are not weighing heavily on the intellect and conscience of America’s military leadership is lost in a fool’s fog.

Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.

Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”

In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.”

Link to article

3 Responses to “A military coup in the US?”

  1. Vivek says:

    Very bizarre to see certain influential conservatives rejoicing about the fact that Chicago had lost the Olympic bid
    http://tpmlivewire.talkingpoin.....hp?ref=fpa
    Imagine the reaction, if the Democrats had done the same!

  2. TJ says:

    Yes, Vivek – it is all part of the polarization that I referred to in my blog entry. I don’t know if this sort of polarization is uniquely American or whether it is happening in other countries. There is a video of a group of Republicans cheering when the announcement came out that Chicago had been knocked out! To paraphrase a question that Golda Meir once asked in the context of Israel and the Palestinians: do the Republicans dislke Obama more than they love their country?

    There is some push-back against the more vocal talk-show hosts on the right where a handful of well-known Republicans are actually questioning the Republican credentials of these talk-show hosts who really appeal to the fringe element and whether their approach is conducive to the long term interests of the Republican party. But even now the reaction is still quite muted.

  3. TJ says:

    Vivek, I wanted to share this link. It is an article by Peggy Noonan, a conservative and speech-writer for Ronald Reagan, expressing her dismay and concern at the tone of dialogue in the US today:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

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