Coups d'état

[CANAAN51USA - Alfred De Grazia]

Coups d'état

Most people, Americans as well as European, have an illusion that
America is a young country. America's representative government
actually is one of the oldest such regimes on earth, perhaps the
oldest republic – for better or worse. There are few precedents found
elsewhere not to be found in America. Take as an example, the coup
d'état, seizure of the government of a state by a hitherto
unauthorized and undemocratically elected group.

A set of coups d'état wrested the original 13 states from the British
government. Conspiracies to take over the nation or the prior colonies
are to be found. An ex-Vice-President, Aaron Burr, highly talented and
fully experienced, conspired to take over the whole of the American
Western domain, plus Mexico. He escaped conviction for treason only
because President Jefferson and Supreme Court Chief Justice Marshall
were political enemies. Marshall manipulated the long trial of Burr so
as to free him.

If General Douglas McArthur were not so old in the 1950's, he would
probably have violated President Truman's order not to launch American
troops on an invasion of China. Instead he went into retirement.
Anyone could picture a coup, who witnessed the immense applause that
hailed him when he gave a farewell speech before a joint session of
Congress, ending with the lachrymose saw of Kipling: "Old soldiers
never die: they simply pass away."

The seizure of Fort Sumter by South Carolinian rebel militia sparked
the terrible Civil War. Some historians say that "America's worst war"
would not have begun had President Lincoln not ordered provisions and
ammunition sent to defend the Fort, an action that gave pretext to the
State's leaders to order an attack upon the fort. Again, in the
ensuing war, several States underwent coups d'état and rebellions.

Proto-states suffered incidents resembling coups d'état:
California,Utah, Texas, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Florida. Already
mentioned was South Carolina. Events in states such as Virginia and
Maryland were kindred.

Examples from abroad and going back in time are innumerable, of
course. Julius Caesar in his famous crossing of the Rubicon River
boundary realized quite clearly that he was violating the Roman
constitution and bringing about a coup d'état which spelled the end of
the Roman Republic. Both Napoleon I (1799)and Napoleon III (1851) owed
their dictatorships of France to coups. General Charles De Gaulle,
after the French government of General Pétain in 1940 took command of
France in agreement with its Nazi conquerors, fled to the British
forces, and with their help set up the Free French Republic to
continue the war against Germany. For all purposes, a coup, as it
succeded in wresting international recognition and legitimacy away
from the established government. Many years later, De Gaulle was
chosen, in constitutionally more than dubious circumstances,
amounting to coup d'étatto lead a junta of generals who were
indisposed to surrender Algeria to the Algerians.

The communist faction of the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in
October 1917 by banishing the Kerensky liberal parliamentary
government. We could jump today to a tug-of-war in Honduras following
a coup d'état. So actually history knows of hundreds of coups d'état,
occurring all over the world. No two are exactly alike. Modern Italy
was put together in the 19th century by a combination of revolutions,
plebiscites, voluntary ceding of power by rulers, conquests, wars, and
coups d'état among the numerous independent component regions, such as
Rome, where a republic was proclaimed in 1849, headed by Mazzini,
wresting power from the Pope (it lasted only five months).

Wikipedia presents the following information on the Presidential
Election of 2000. "Bush narrowly won the November 7 election, with 271
electoral votes to Gore's 266 (with one elector abstaining in the
official tally). The election was noteworthy for a controversy over
the awarding of Florida's 25 electoral votes, the subsequent recount
process in that state, and the unusual event of the winning candidate
having received fewer popular votes than the runner-up."

Some historians and political scientists, and very many citizens
regard the events of the Presidential Election of 2000, in which
President George W. Bush beat out Senator Al Gore, the Democratic
candidate, by the slightest of margins (and only if the popular and
electoral vote counts were considered to have been honestly and
correctly calculated according to constitutional and legal procedures)
as a coup d'etat. That is, assembling the evidence, it would appear
that mishandling of the administration and counting of the votes in
key areas, particularly in Florida, was sufficiently slanted against
Gore to give Bush a margin of victory by a few hundred votes, hence
the electoral vote of Florida, and therefore enough electoral votes
from the State to determine victory for Bush.

The media, the police, the legislators, and the election machinery
were in the hands of the Republican Party, whose head and Governor of
the State was the brother of President Bush. In a set of questionable
rationalizations, the Supreme Court of the United States, basically
inclined to the Republicans, found grounds for arranging legally
various vote tallies in the Republican column. The situation was so
confused and absurd that, although aggressive feelings abounded, there
was no concerted force that could brush aside the Supreme Court or
mobilize intimidating mass demonstrations. Surely, though, the
prestige of the American election system was lowered everywhere. And a
great many people thought George W. Bush lacked legitimacy as
President.

Is a military or political coup d'état in America conceivable?
Perhaps yes, if the Palestinians stay disorganized, and hyper -
Israelis continue to dominate Israel. The possibility of a seizure of
power might vary in proportion as the economic, financial, political,
military, and psychological morale of Americans, especially affecting
the troops, continues to sink. Doubtless, Palestine and Israel would
be involved as causes and effects of the sparking that would light the
fires of conflict. Among Americans, there grows a large measure of
disgust with the Palestinian dissensions, and a combination of
distrust and dismay with the Israeli government. Moreover, contrary to
what many would assume, American Jews might be more than even-handed
in a showdown, a larger proportion of them disposed to punish
Israelists for bungling and many other offenses that would tumble out
of the sad record. (This tabooed subject lurks in our printing here of
an essay by Uri Avnery of March 19, 2010, entitled "Doomsday
Weapon.") .

The book of The American State of Canaan argues for a perfectly legal
procedure for the admission of a new State to the Union – not a coup
d'état. But suppose a Palestinian cabal or gang or organ of State
seizes control of both Gaza and the West Bank and refuses to proceed
with a possible Statehood majority, defying the legitimate procedures
for obtaining Statehood. Or suppose that an Israeli cult or cabal or
conspiracy blocks all attempts toward Statehood, inside or outside of
the Knesset and other organs of government. Thereupon Statehood would
be stymied. The dolorous story of the past and present would continue
into the future. Intolerable for the Palestinians and Arabs,
disgraceful and costly for the Israelis and Jews.



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ALFRED DE GRAZIA