Do we need a coup d'etat to right the Ship of State?

We have truly entered the era of dangerous stupidity. To wit, this essay posted at the progressive/left Web site Online Journal.com, by contributor John Stanton, titled Uniformed, active US military: Last hope for the US Constitution and the Republic. Writes Mr. Stanton:

"The uniformed, active duty members of the United States military are now the only force potent enough to stop the corporatization of America's public goods: its land, its air, its water, its people, its institutions, its infrastructure, and its rapidly deteriorating social compact.

...The uniformed US military is allowing itself to be transformed into a corporate monster. Even now, some military leaders act just like the callous CEOs in private industry. They throw away lives like a CEO blithely chops away 1,000 livelihoods. As it stands, within a decade the uniformed services will be totally polluted with over-the-horizon leaders who see their service to the country as little more than a CEO training exercise. At that point, the uniformed services will become little more than corporate muscle that is used to eliminate local or regional resistance to the corporate takeovers."

Here I pause and exclaim:"Allowing?!" The uniformed military already is a "corporate monster." It was transformed into a corporate monster on on July 1, 1973 when the law, signed by Richard Nixon in 1971, ending the draft and putting the Selective Service on standby, went into effect.

And I think Mr. Stanton is behind the time in his assessment it will be within a decade when military officer training is little more than training exercises for future CEOs and smooching up to the corporatist world. Take for example this March 16, 2006 posting from ThinkProgress.org

Less than 6 months ago Gen. Richard B. Myers retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking military officer in the country. He’s quickly found alternative employment. From the Chicago Tribune’s The Swamp:

Northrop Grumman, one of the nation’s largest and best-known defense firms, announced Wednesday that Myers, an Air Force veteran and former fighter pilot, has joined its board of directors.

As one of 11 “non-employee” directors, Myers will earn $200,000 a year, according to a company spokesman. Half of that sum is paid to the company’s 12 directors in stock.

In exchange for his 200K, Myers will have to attend “eight scheduled board meetings this year, two of which are conducted by phone.

This is only one example. Generals and Navy admirals sliding into cushy corporate positions is the norm, not the exception. Yet this doesn't seem to deter Stanton in his call for a military takeover of the government.

How long until the uniformed military carries out its core duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States? The uniformed military is the only US government institution that has the tenuous trust and respect of the American people. The US Senate, House, presidency and judicial branches -- advised by their corporate handlers -- have used the uniformed US military to serve their own individual interests, not those embodied in the Constitution of the United States or the Declaration of Independence. The premeditated policies of the current US government are literally killing the American people and creating foreign enemies that future American youngsters will be asked to kill. America can't even run a legitimate presidential election.

Two decades of this madness is enough. The uniformed military needs to be true to its oath of office. It's the domestic enemies that are destroying the country. The US Army oath for officers states, " . . . I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter . . ."

What a sad commentary on the state of current affairs when a progressive Web site posts an essay calling for a military putsch against the federal government. I understand Stanton's anguish and frustration with the corporatist reality of our political system but to call for a military dictatorship borders on insanity. Take for example the murder acquittal of Army sniper Jorge G. Sandoval Jr. or the clearing of murder charges for two soldiers at Fort Bragg, as reported by Robert Perry in this morning's edition of ConsortiumNews.com, against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. What lesson does this convey to our troopers of the All Volunteer Force? That if you're in uniform you can get away with murder? If that is the case why uphold the Constitution?

A 1999 study by Duke University professors Paul Gronke and Peter D. Feaver found: "Military elite officers, far more than elite civilians, are prone to view civilian society as troubled and in need of reform. Elite military officers, far more than elite civilians, are prone to think that civilian society can be repaired if only military values were more widely accepted."

Wishing for a military overthrow of the federal government is neither wise nor desirable, especially considering the widening philosophical gap between the all volunteer professional military and the rest of the population. That this country will fall under a military dictorship within the next ten years I have no doubt. And that the antiwar left will rue the day it ever supported the Milton J. Friedmen inspired All Volunteer Force, of this I also have no doubt.