Is the United States of America now, or will it very shortly be, ripe for a good, old fashioned, military coup? The kind that happen in other countries (often with the support or instigation of the United States)? Why not?
The agenda for military coups is usually presented as a necessary last-ditch response to a dysfunctional political system (partisan deadlock), corruption (money in politics), social unrest (black lives matter?), high crime rates (or the appearance thereof), ready-made scapegoats and enemies (the Muslims are coming for you), collapsing morals (abortion and women in general), a failing economy, even a worrisome election result (a socialist president?). Those were good enough to justify coups in Argentina and Chile and Greece and Guatemala (over and over), and if we don't mind them when they happen in Egypt or Pakistan or Indonesia because of the need for 'stability', then why not in America? Nothing is more respected in the U.S. than the military and certainly when compared to politicians or journalists or unions or lawyers or teachers or really anyone else at all (and thank you for your service).
True, there is limited financial advantage for the military in seizing political power - the U.S. armed forces already has access to unlimited amounts of money and gets not only any weapon they want, but even extra ones they may not have asked for. (Yay! Bonus bombs!) It's like computers that give you fourteen different ways to do the same thing, you need multiple death-avenues to be considered 'ready' for the world. But even if it doesn't mean more money for tanks, a military coup seems the natural fulfillment of the current American zeitgeist. An ambitious or concerned general and a population looking for a non-nonsense strongman figure from outside of politics. A military with the physical ability to dominate and control, the high value placed on soldiers as moral agents, the decline in the status of a country that thinks, a military that thinks, it should be respected and dominant in the world. A political system that a person of honour (which is how generals see themselves) could see as not living up to the noble nature of God's constitution.
Or perhaps a President Cruz gets the backing of the military to suspend elections for awhile to deal with a crisis...are you sure the military would be more committed to the constitution than a president or a congress would be? If the political class can be corrupted by money, power, and stupidity, is there any reason in principle the joint chiefs of staff can't be? Sure, not all soldiers may go along, but the U.S. has seen civil war before, and a soldier's loyalty is to his or her comrades and leaders (according to soldiers in fire fights).
What's to stop the military in the most militaristic nation on earth (I mean you, America) from looking for a military solution to problems at home as well as abroad? The individual goodness of heart of the individual people? Did that work in politics or journalism or Wall Street? Does the system corrupt less when your job is to kill and die than it does when it is to report on news? Do you have less stake in competent government, are you less tempted by money, power, and security, are you certain to be less personally ambitious or less given to blind fanaticism or delusions of grandeur as a retired general than as a Fox News correspondent?
It's one thing for the military to stay out of politics when things are going well for a country, when it is dominant and respected in the world, confident and prosperous, stable and effectively, honestly, run. When the system is seen to be working, and full of intelligent, honourable officials, and a military officer can take pride in being an American. A coup is much more tempting, much easier, more likely to be going through some soldier's head five years from now, if the economy doesn't improve, if there is unrest, more terrorist attacks, a failed government.
Remember, in Michigan the Governor has, and has used, the power to appoint non-elected heads of municipal governments, bypassing elections and the democratic will of the people, because of whatever he deems to be a 'crisis'. So far those haven't been military governments, but then again so far there hasn't been any rioting in protest - if there were to be, would the army stay out of it? If ordered to support an unelected government official in Michigan? How far is that from a military take over? Are you sure just being American is enough insulation from what other countries have gone through? If God will forever protect U.S. democracy because he loves America so much, why is it so corrupt and idiotic now? Maybe the Lord only works best through autocratic power structures and domineering use of force, like everything else these days...
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