No, the leap is enormous-- it doesn’t matter how large or small it is compared to the OP. But you didn’t answer my question: How “large” a segment are you claiming would just shrug and go along with a coup? I can’t think of any “large” segement that would do such a thing myself. I think you shoudl either defend that satement or withdraw it. Perhaps, as a Canadian, you don’t realize what an insult that was to Americans.
That’s pretty funny, since it could be construed as an insult to Canadians. Not by me, mind you, since that would be ridiculous.
Anyway, I don’t recognize your claim that my statement was an insult, though I recognize your right to choose to interpret it as one, if you insist.
Interesting that you still don’t even acknowledge my repeat qeustion. So, IOW, you just pulled the statement out of your ass. That’s what I thought.
I acknowledge that it’s a stupid question springing from a determination to be righteously offended, made no less stupid by repetition. Take the last word if you must. I don’t see the need to discuss it further.
I agree. First thing I said was “no way in Hell will this actually happen.”
It’s like if the OP had asked “What would happen if the United States decided to invade Canada?” You can still argue about the mechanics of how something would happen if it did even if you acknowledge the reality that it won’t happen.
Thats true as far as it goes. You could certainly argue the mechanics of a US invasion of Canada because the mechanics are possible…the US COULD invade and conquere Canada if they chose too. Of course, the underlieing premise is flawed, as the chances or possibility that the US WOULD invade Canada are vanishingly small…but you could argue the mechanics of how the US would invade and perhaps the military aspects.
This OP though…I can’t envision ANY set of circumstances that would allow this left wing loony fantasy. Sure, IF GW decided he wanted to be supreme mugwump, and IF the other branches of the government went along, and IF the military went along, and IF the majority of the people went along, and IF…IF…IF…
Then GW would be crowned George the First on the White House steps and we’d be living in imperial Rome…or the America version of it. But you could just as easily argue about alien invasions as there are so many ‘ifs’ involved as to make the question not even interesting to debate…the chances of it happening are so vanishingly small that its off the probability scale. Unless you are blinded by hatred of GW to the point that you aren’t rational anymore. THEN it either makes sense or you can at least see how it could happen (despite being told all the myriad ways it CAN’T happen)…
Be calm guys…be comforted. The bozo WILL be gone in just a few years and then we can yammer about the next fool you guys elect…
-XT
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever support a pre-emptive war.
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever elect a President who would reserve the right to torture prisoners.
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever accept a President who arranged for the government to track our private phone conversations and possibly listen in.
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever accept a President who arranged for the government to read our private mail.
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever accept a President who arranged for the government to keep an eye on our bank accounts.
I didn’t think that most Americans would ever sit still for a President who swore to uphold the laws of the country but wrote exceptions for himself for over 700 new laws.
I didn’t think that most Americans would sit still for a President who drummed up reasons not to follow the Geneva Conventions.
I didn’t think that most Americans would abide holding non-POWS without indefinitely without bringing charges against them.
I didn’t think that most Americans would abide a President who tried to deny prisoners the right to a fair trial.
I didn’t think that most Americans would tolerate a President who wanted the government to snoop into what private citizens were reading at our local libraries.
I didn’t think that most Americans would defend a President who gave medals to people who did shoddy work that cost other Americans their lives.
I didn’t think that most Americans would allow a President and Vice President to tell lie after lie after lie and remain in office, but we have.
I have seen people easily blinded by a good ole boy backyard BBQ image. I have seen people easily blinded by the linking of the events of September 11, 2001 with the War in Iraq. Why would I think that they could not be blinded once again by a NATIONAL CRISIS in which we are in danger of eminent attack? Couldn’t the Republican Congress be convinced again? Couldn’t our brave troops and their COs be convinced again by their Commander-in-Chief and the Pentagon that the salvation of the country is at stake? Who could blame them for once again choosing to guard their country from the Axis of Evil?
IOW you don’t know much about American history…or you are so blinded by your dislike for GW that you don’t realize that nothing on your list is unique to his presidency.
-XT
…and yet, we haven’t had a president yet who has even remotely come close to siezing power, despite other presidents doing similar things (or worse). The closest we’ve come is George Washington being offered the title of king and perhaps Roosevelt with his seeming unlimited terms (until he finally died in office). Not very close, even when a president really COULD have siezed all power.
Unlike today. I can’t get over the fact that some folks really fret about a bozo like GW siezing power…
-XT
Don’t forget president Haig.
How do we know that Ike ever left office? You can’t prove he didn’t have his heart replaced by a nazi electric blood-pump, and got face lifts everytime a “new” “candidate” got “elected”.
Okay, I’ll bite… what previous President claimed the right for all of the listed excesses in the course of his Presidency?
Not to point out the obvious, but that wasn’t the claim. For that matter, some previous Presidents have done things that make the current administration look like pussycats, and easygoing pussycats at that. No previous administration is going to be exactly like this one, of course; each has its own unique mix of rights-stomping, to various degrees.
Sure, but that’d be leaving a loophole for him to weasel out with. “Look, just because The Chainsaw Hacker killed a family of six, raped a nun, blew up a synagogue, skinned a cat, and sprayed graffiti across town, what’s the big deal? Other people have committed murder, rape, arson, animal abuse, and vandalism before.”
The fact that we’re seeing all of these excesses in one single administration is part and parcel of the problem.
Okay, I’ve read the whole thread. I’m going to plunk for the faction that argues the whole scenario is unrealistic. By way of comparison, consider how long and arduous the journey of Stalin’s rise to power. Took almost two decades, with lots of political intrigues along the way, and all that without a long-established tradition of military deference to civilian authority. Could an American president, theoretically, establish himself as dictator-for-life? Perhaps. But I can see no realistic scenario in which he is given enough time to accomplish the task.
Actually, we do know for sure. Under the U.S. Constitution and federal law at the time, the person whom the U.S. Senate had certified was the winner of the electoral vote (Zachary Taylor), “shall in all cases” became president on March 4, whether or not he took the presidential oath of office. The Constitution makes the distinction between the passive “shall be the President” (Amendment XII) and the active “enter on the Execution of his Office” (Article II) (i.e., exercise any of the powers of office). To do the latter, the Constitution requires that the president must take the oath of office.
As a principle, it goes back to monarchy and the idea of an instant, unbroken transfer of power: “The King is dead, long live the King,” referring to the old monarch and the new monarch in the same breath.
Nineteen days before his term of office was over?
Cool, thanks.
I agree with most of these conditions. It would take the military, the congress, and the federal government for the coup to succeed. And even then it might not without other factors.
We already have that but we haven’t had a coup. Having such a group is not necessary for having a dicatorship.
Well, since they enjoy their power then they will most enthusiastically welcome the dictatorship so that they can stay in power.
But what use does the dictator have for congress? In a dictatorship every congressman is either the personal vassal of the dictator, or he’s gotten rid of.
So of course there will be a House and Senate after the coup, but they will be a rubber stamp for the dictator. What personally ambitious congressman is going to convert himself from a power-player into a rubber stamp?