I am truly afraid

[PickleSlice]

Historically, few who try a coup d'état succeed. A grab for power, even with the full weight of the US military (a scenario that is about as unlikely as finding Elvis alive and well and living in sin with John Belushi) is likely to instigate a prolonged civil war with little to gain on the part of those who grabbed for power (roughly 300 million firearms in private ownership pretty much guarantees this).

This leaves a "legitimate" grab for power, à la Hitler and the Nazis. The difficulty here is that our Constitution has no emergency clauses giving the president dictatorial powers (as the Weimar constitution did). A grab for power wherein the president attempts to dissolve Congress and outlaw all parties would result, again, in civil war, only this time with most of the military (who swear an oath to the Constitution, and not to any commander or political leader) in league with the People.

I am not saying that everything in Denmark (or Washington D.C.) smells great. It doesn't. As Neil Postman points out in "Amusing Ourselves to Death," we now find ourselves in a caught in a conspiracy in which the victims of the conspiracy are also its main perpetrators.

From the book's jacket:

"But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another—slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny 'failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Well thought out posts. I look forward to the Theorists response.

 

[fredintoon]

" - - - Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Hi Word Man,
yeah, eating candy will rot your teeth. The rest is details.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Well, it's over.

http://news.discovery.com/history/u...d-jade-helm-operation-quietly-ends-150917.htm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/...-America-s-conspiracy-theorists-have-moved-on

I guess we lost, Arizona won.

Most of Texas will become a retirement community subdivision of Phoenix.
The rest will be used as a parking lot for some Tuscon Walmart.

And, Maine was ceded to Canada.

Just to straighten out the border...

 

[PickleSlice]

"Huh...go figure...they actually were just training their troops for urban warfare.

Looks like we were wrong."

Says no conspiracy theorist, ever.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Oh, but we ARE being punished.

By eBay's recent release of its version 4.0 android app.

The horror...