OUR OWN PLUTOCRATIC COUP?

 

Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images as published by ABC Network

"There were roughly 25,000 National Guard members in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President Joe Biden. It has been normal practice to have some National Guard in town for inaugurations, but 25,000 was far more than any number from the past. Of course, nerves were raw after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but there is little doubt that mobilizing 25,000 troops was an overreaction.

Now, 5,000 are still in the nation’s capital. The inauguration was nearly two weeks ago. It went off without incident. There is no need for troops in the city. And yet, touring the federal area of Washington, one finds tall fencing and razor wire creating a huge militarized zone around the Capitol, with National Guard members guarding it from inside the fence. The barrier is not just on the perimeter of the Capitol. It extends for blocks beyond the building in every direction." Byron York,Opinion Column, Salisbury Post, February 5, 2021.

The swift fortification of our Capitol by the new Democrat-party majorities in Congress and our new Democrat Commander-in-Chief is simply un-American. And, by "un-American", I refer to the U.S.A., a country which emerged united after a bloody years-long Civil War waged just miles from that same Capitol, a building which was begun in 1793. The building was renovated after being partially burned by the British in 1812. It was a symbol of Constitutional republic's raised chin and drawn-back shoulders in the face of aggression ... until now.

The concept of military dictatorship has been deeply distasteful to Americans, since the American Revolution, fought against a de facto military dictatorship imposed by England following demonstrations against unfair taxation. We have looked on unapprovingly as other nations have been strangled by military dictators. Parts of Europe, South America, Africa and Asia have all been subjected to military dictatorship during the life of the U.S.A.. We have participated in wars to help liberate some of those nations. 

But today's Americans are so wrapped up in their own bubbles that the militarization of the nation's capital city is generally ignored, or condoned. This is not surprising on one level. After all, there has been no unified national outrage against the rioting, looting and arson of 2020 in many major American cities. American journalists, employed by corporately owned outlets, have rushed to defend that violence as "peaceful protest". Is there any wonder that we are divided as a nation?

Few Americans would have had any strong reaction over the appointment of a too-recently retired Democrat general to the position of Secretary of Defense. And even fewer are likely aware of, or disturbed by, the political purge being conducted by that same Secretary of Defense at The Pentagon, the control center of American militarism. Supporters of the previous POTUS are being rooted out for their personal political beliefs. 

This is the stuff of banana republics, where the military is a political class in itself within a hierarchical society. Our American ideal of the citizen-soldier is corrupted by introducing political purging into The Pentagon as it is now being done by the Biden administration. Our Constitutional balance between military might and civilian control of that military might is a treasure. Allowing it to be corrupted in any way by party politics is an outrage.

And what of the roots of the fears in Congress after January 6, 2021? Is the former POTUS really at blame for the rage that was vented in that riot? Or do those who relentlessly and dishonestly chipped away at the legitimacy of The Presidency, as an elected branch of government, for four years bear responsibility as well? 

A truly representative government of the people, for the people and by the people should not have to hide behind troops and razor wire. Something is amiss. The detached and cowed public of social distancing, face masks and corporate propaganda may well be enabling the transition of our national government from a representative republic to an undemocratic plutocracy of wealthy corporate globalists whose paid minions in Congress and The White House will pull further and further away from the American people. 

Hillary Clinton's description of her opposition's supporters as "deplorables" in the 2016 US Presidential election cycle may well have exposed the attitude of those who now are hiding behind military personnel to rule, not represent, in our our nation's capital. The hyperbolic propaganda about January 6th, 2021 is now falling on deaf ears among the half of the country who did not vote for the current Democrat regime. 

The Border Wall has been replaced by a Capitol Fence. What better metaphor could there be for the conflict between those who would see the preservation of American values and American national pride and those who would see the surrender of America to a foggy ideology of radical (anarchic?) socialism and racialist revenge for a distant past upon a shared civilization, shared history and shared cultural heritage?