ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND THE U. S. MILITARY
By Robert Klein Engler (05/30/07)
CHICAGO--(29 May '07) At a Memorial Day barbecue where the issue of illegal immigration is an inevitable topic of discussion, I ask the woman sitting next to me at a garden table, "How would you feel if the military took over the country?" She displays her liberal perspective and wit when she asks back, "Haven't they, already?"
I sip my beer and decide to remain speechless. Nevertheless, two thoughts go through my mind: Is a military coup possible in our age of divisive politics, and will a military coup be accepted? When I return home and do more research, my answer to both these questions comes to be a reluctant, "Yes!"
The blogosphere is already charged with anger from both left and right about a possible military takeover in the United States. It seems, too, that worry over the proposed immigration bill has charged much of that anger. In such a context, most of the debate centers on a recent comment by Thomas Sowell.
Appearing in the NationalReview.com, Sowell writes, "When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup."
Commentators from both left and right mull over Sowell's words. A man writes, "This is one of the most concise statements of the Western crisis I have seen." Still another argues, "Why not through a military coup? Less blood and chaos than civil wars or popular revolutions."
"Scratch a conservative, wound a fascist," was how someone who disagrees with Sowell expresses himself in Patrick Drum's blog, Political Animal. Another writes. "It's one bullet point in a long series of dyspeptic observations about how liberals have ruined the country." And in a reference to the missteps in Iraq, yet another says ironically, "I hope Republicans are the ones to decide how many troops they're going to need."
A Military Coup May be Possible in the United States.
Military coups happen in many nations. Why should the United States be immune from them? Chile, Fiji and Argentina are a few contemporary examples. In his article, "Politics, Professionalism, and Peacekeeping: An Analysis of the 1987 Military Coup in Fiji," Andrew Scobell discusses a coup that took place in a relatively small nation state. The complexity and scale of U. S. society may mean that structural conditions prevent a similar type of military coup from taking place here. Yet, structural conditions do change.
This change seems to be one of the points made by Gerard Alexander's Policy Review article. In "Making Democracy Stick," Alexander writes, "...there are compelling reasons to believe that certain structural conditions threaten democracies in ways that cannot be overcome simply by a desire for self-rule."
Is it possible that structural conditions are changing in the United States? If so, then a military coup is not out of the question here, given these changes. Certainly, the addition of 40 million new immigrants from nonwestern cultures constitutes a radical structural change for any society.
Another large scale terrorist attack in the United States could be the precipitating factor that would trigger a military coup. If our troops are brought home from Iraq by the Democrats who also win the next Presidential election, then combat tested soldiers are at hand.
The troop surge planned by President Bush most likely will not work in Iraq, but neither will a withdrawal proposed by the Democrats. What will work in Iraq is a growing awareness that the problem there is really Iran and Islam.
The exhausted metaphor of "a war on terror" cannot carry its own weight in Iraq, anymore. Furthermore, the mistake President Bush makes in Iraq is the same mistake he makes in regard to illegal immigration and amnesty: cultures cannot be changed as easily as currency.
Although many Democrats may not admit our problems with Islam in Iraq, when it comes to immigration, the tables are turned. Many Republicans are blinded by the light of cheap labor and the gauze of compassion. A worsening military situation in Iraq and 20 million illegal aliens given amnesty may be the two straws that break the camel's back in the ranks of the officer corps.
By voting against funding our troops, both Senators Clinton and Obama have set themselves squarely against the institution of the military. If either of them were elected President, a few career minded junior officers probably would have no qualms removing either of them from office by a coup.
Given structural changes brought on by uncontrolled immigration, some of these junior officers will start talking in secret and among themselves about doing the unimaginable. For these officers, their pledge of duty, honor and country will leave them with few choices.
There are some who argue that, "The armed forces of the United States, in the normal course of events will not engage in a coup or insurrection. The sacred duty of our military is inculcated so deeply in their hearts they would rather die than bring dishonor on themselves or their forebears." If this were always true, then we would not find General Robert E. Lee commanding Confederate forces, nor would we have suffered the Civil War.
Here is one dilemma for some junior military officers recently graduated from West Point or tested in the crucible of Iraq: How can they be fighting abroad for U. S. interests, while at home politicians are using immigration to dissolve the U. S. Constitution in favor of a North American Union?
The tide may rise on this dilemma, or the tide may fall. It is possible that something along the lines of what Samuel P. Huntington calls a "Breakthrough Coup" may be just around the corner. If these junior officers carry on with their career and do nothing, then the country they are sworn to defend may disappear into the hands of a tyrannical, multicultural majority.
The possibility of a military coup in the United States will emerge as an issue where the ideal versus the practical. To what degree will the ideals born from the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution give birth to those who conclude that the only practical way to preserve those ideals is by suspending them?
Many of our military bases are in the southern states. Many of our professional military personnel are also from southern states. It is from these bases and with these members of the military that a coup could begin.
It is not difficult to imagine how a military campaign will move the army up from the south, to take first Washington, D. C., and send the Congress and the Senate home. The President will either go along with the coup or be replaced. The Supreme Court will be ignored. Then, the new military leaders will occupy the broad conservative middle of the country, isolating the liberal east and west coasts.
Some military planners argue that the traditional rivalry between branches of the armed services is a safeguard against any branch effecting a coup like the one imagined here. Yet, if enough air force officers go along with army and marine officers, then they will neutralize any reluctant naval officers at sea. Such a military coup has a high chance of being successful.
Once Texas is brought in and the border with Mexico is secure, deportations will begin. Some larger cities like Chicago may offer resistance, but they will eventually fall in line to the military's demands. More difficult will be New York and California. Isolated from each other by thousands of miles, it will be just a matter of time before they surrender. You can imagine that in about six months the military will achieve practical control of the continental United States.
Would a Military Coup be Accepted
Who would resist a military coup in the United States? Not some of my friends at this suburban garden party. If the malls stay open, then they will keep their mouths shut. Certainly not most intellectuals and academicians. Many of them are self-serving cowards.
Would the fringe left man the barricades? Perhaps in some of our major cities already controlled by anti-American minorities they would, but they would be no match for a well organized army of occupation.
Would the labor unions in the United States hold a general strike against the military occupation? I doubt it. Most unions are ineffectual to begin with, and others are obstacles to success. Can anyone imagine the Chicago Teachers Union closing the public schools in opposition to a military coup? Some parents in Chicago would see it as a blessing. Their children would probably learn more away from many of Chicago's schools then they do attending them.
Would the mainstream media resist a military coup? Most likely, not. Many members of the media are simply talking heads. Few in their audience imagine Katie Couric as Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People."
Many Americans are so weary of politics they would prefer to stay home and watch their new HDTVs then protest in the streets. Other traditional Americans, hungry for immigration justice, will welcome the troops as liberators and wave American flags for them.
There are untold numbers of Americans who are disappointed with Congress and the Senate because of proposed legislation that will give millions of illegal aliens amnesty. These Americans may accept a military coup as a necessary evil to save the nation they know from being overrun by cultures they do not know.
If a military coup means Americans could make a phone call in English, without having to hear "oprima dos por Español," these Americans would look the other way when the military rolls into town.
What would other nations think about a military coup in the States? Maybe the British and French would for once think it is good to imitate Americans. Perhaps the ironic Germans would say, "See, we were right all along!" Others, however, may begin to worry.
If you were planning a military strategy for China or al-Queda, then how would you look on the military seizing power in the United States? First, you would have to know if the military chooses socialism or fascism. If it is a multicultural socialism, then a Chinese or al-Queda world victory is assured. No need to worry, then. However, if the U. S. military chooses fascism, then you begin to worry.
Policy analysts in China, al-Queda and the coming Sino-Islamic alliance may worry most about a military coup from the right, similar to what happened in Chile, happening in the United States. Chinese foreign policy and al-Queda's terror policy is directed to making sure the United States becomes weak through multiculturalism. Anything else could be a harbinger of defeat.
Caught up in the day-to-day trivia of life at a suburban barbecue, it is almost impossible to imagine a future world without the United States of America. Safe for a time on a metaphorical latifundia, the new Romans dip crusty bread in olive oil and look out to the horizon where the sun sets behind a row poplar trees. The small chaos of the day falls into the great chaos of night.
Robert Klein Engler
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