Bart, It is obvious you don't live in the same country I do. You see, this country now has a 100% volunteer armed forces; the army *IS* the people of the USA. Not only would the majority of the military revolt against any commander(s) who told them to kill/subjugate/harm other Americans who weren't doing anything unconstitutional, many MANY people in the general population are military veterans ... people who could climb into a tank and run it, operate missle launches, use a LAW correctly, throw back a grenade and live to tell about it.
Even the poor -- whose children often get better educations than the children of the middle class -- wouldn't stand by and let the military take over this country. Where the danger lies, and has always lain, is in the politicians and spin doctors and psychologists whose only job is to design the best propaganda campaign to suck in the most people ... Where the danger lies is within any people truly trusting the government to do "the right thing" at "the right time" ... and allowing the government to always define "right." P.S. Today has felt like I've been sitting exams!!!~ ==== On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 23:12:52 +0100, Bart Buitinga wrote: > Dear friend, > Are you suggesting this 18th century constitutional reasoning is tricking > you to believe that the US population would stand a chance against the US > army if ever...??? > Sorry to say but I think you're tragically wrong there. Better look at more > recent past (post WW2, or even after the invention of TV, not to mention > the internet, to compare the effects of policies on crime. Privately owned > guns have done no good against crime in the USA, nor have harsher > penalties. What will help are a good social system to improve the position > of the poor, equal chances in education for their children and another > president because this one would be your dictator if only he had the guts > to disobey his father. > This may all sound a little hostile, which is not intended. I just hope to > make very sure the Americans get to read what's really happening. > B -- Arachne V1.70;rev.3, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/