Cobb

So here's a follow-up - if an extremist power were to take hold via election in a country like the USofA, and the military felt otherwise, and a coup took place - would it be okay, by public standards - if it were to get us all out of the mess that the current leader put us in by turning out to be a despot?

A great theoretical. What would it take to have a military coup in the US? It would take something like... jeez.

Considering that we've had impeachment and supreme court appointment of the president all within 6 years and nobody even *thinks* about a military coup. I can't imagine what it would take. I mean can you imagine a Republican so bad that a Democrat couldn't get elected?

djspicerack:

You want to borrow my Funk & Wagnalls?

Can't understand why that despot only gets Congress to do his bidding about half the tiem...

Sheesh

Ken:

I appreciate your concern, but believe me, I have a solid handle on the American political system. History has shown that if someone in power reaches a certain level of leadership, that person can do a lot of things that one particular country/entity may not have originally had "in the cards", so to say.

So while I understand your point, things might not actually happen one way or another, but think about the disastrous happenings of a President telling you "what s/he really thinks" about certain topics. What about a President doing certain things with the military that the rest of the military didn't approve of, that Congress was backed in on. It could happen.

God forbid another 9/11 happens on American soil - personal freedoms will take a serious hit when and if something were to happen, I would bet my bottom dollar, and borrow one from you, too, to bet with. Not everyone is in agreement with some of the "police state" principles that come across in times of war and other tests of will. I'm not saying this about a "coup" with any level of certainty, it was just a theoretical. People say a lot of things could never happen, and those things happen.