Most people, Americans as well as European, have an illusion that America is a young country. America's representative government actually is one of the oldest such regimes on earth, perhaps the oldest republic – for better or worse. There are few precedents found elsewhere not to be found in America. Take as an example, the coup d'état, seizure of the government of a state by a hitherto unauthorized and undemocratically elected group.
A set of coups d'état wrested the original 13 states from the British government. Conspiracies to take over the nation or the prior colonies are to be found. An ex-Vice-President, Aaron Burr, highly talented and fully experienced, conspired to take over the whole of the American Western domain, plus Mexico. He escaped conviction for treason only because President Jefferson and Supreme Court Chief Justice Marshall were political enemies. Marshall manipulated the long trial of Burr so as to free him.
If General Douglas McArthur were not so old in the 1950's, he would probably have violated President Truman's order not to launch American troops on an invasion of China. Instead he went into retirement. Anyone could picture a coup, who witnessed the immense applause that hailed him when he gave a farewell speech before a joint session of Congress, ending with the lachrymose saw of Kipling: "Old soldiers never die: they simply pass away."
The seizure of Fort Sumter by South Carolinian rebel militia sparked the terrible Civil War. Some historians say that "America's worst war" would not have begun had President Lincoln not ordered provisions and ammunition sent to defend the Fort, an action that gave pretext to the State's leaders to order an attack upon the fort. Again, in the ensuing war, several States underwent coups d'état and rebellions.
Proto-states suffered incidents resembling coups d'état: California,Utah, Texas, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Florida. Already mentioned was South Carolina. Events in states such as Virginia and Maryland were kindred.
Examples from abroad and going back in time are innumerable, of course. Julius Caesar in his famous crossing of the Rubicon River boundary realized quite clearly that he was violating the Roman constitution and bringing about a coup d'état which spelled the end of the Roman Republic. Both Napoleon I (1799)and Napoleon III (1851) owed their dictatorships of France to coups. General Charles De Gaulle, after the French government of General Pétain in 1940 took command of France in agreement with its Nazi conquerors, fled to the British forces, and with their help set up the Free French Republic to continue the war against Germany. For all purposes, a coup, as it succeded in wresting international recognition and legitimacy away from the established government. Many years later, De Gaulle was chosen, in constitutionally more than dubious circumstances, amounting to coup d'étatto lead a junta of generals who were indisposed to surrender Algeria to the Algerians.
The communist faction of the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in October 1917 by banishing the Kerensky liberal parliamentary government. We could jump today to a tug-of-war in Honduras following a coup d'état. So actually history knows of hundreds of coups d'état, occurring all over the world. No two are exactly alike. Modern Italy was put together in the 19th century by a combination of revolutions, plebiscites, voluntary ceding of power by rulers, conquests, wars, and coups d'état among the numerous independent component regions, such as Rome, where a republic was proclaimed in 1849, headed by Mazzini, wresting power from the Pope (it lasted only five months).
Wikipedia presents the following information on the Presidential Election of 2000. "Bush narrowly won the November 7 election, with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (with one elector abstaining in the official tally). The election was noteworthy for a controversy over the awarding of Florida's 25 electoral votes, the subsequent recount process in that state, and the unusual event of the winning candidate having received fewer popular votes than the runner-up."
Some historians and political scientists, and very many citizens regard the events of the Presidential Election of 2000, in which President George W. Bush beat out Senator Al Gore, the Democratic candidate, by the slightest of margins (and only if the popular and electoral vote counts were considered to have been honestly and correctly calculated according to constitutional and legal procedures) as a coup d'etat. That is, assembling the evidence, it would appear that mishandling of the administration and counting of the votes in key areas, particularly in Florida, was sufficiently slanted against Gore to give Bush a margin of victory by a few hundred votes, hence the electoral vote of Florida, and therefore enough electoral votes from the State to determine victory for Bush.
The media, the police, the legislators, and the election machinery were in the hands of the Republican Party, whose head and Governor of the State was the brother of President Bush. In a set of questionable rationalizations, the Supreme Court of the United States, basically inclined to the Republicans, found grounds for arranging legally various vote tallies in the Republican column. The situation was so confused and absurd that, although aggressive feelings abounded, there was no concerted force that could brush aside the Supreme Court or mobilize intimidating mass demonstrations. Surely, though, the prestige of the American election system was lowered everywhere. And a great many people thought George W. Bush lacked legitimacy as President.
Is a military or political coup d'état in America conceivable? Perhaps yes, if the Palestinians stay disorganized, and hyper -Israelis continue to dominate Israel. The possibility of a seizure of power might vary in proportion as the economic, financial, political, military, and psychological morale of Americans, especially affecting the troops, continues to sink. Doubtless, Palestine and Israel would be involved as causes and effects of the sparking that would light the fires of conflict. Among Americans, there grows a large measure of disgust with the Palestinian dissensions, and a combination of distrust and dismay with the Israeli government. Moreover, contrary to what many would assume, American Jews might be more than even-handed in a showdown, a larger proportion of them disposed to punish Israelists for bungling and many other offenses that would tumble out of the sad record. (This tabooed subject lurks in our printing here of an essay by Uri Avnery of March 19, 2010, entitled "Doomsday Weapon.") .
The book of The American State of Canaan argues for a perfectly legal procedure for the admission of a new State to the Union – not a coup d'état. But suppose a Palestinian cabal or gang or organ of State seizes control of both Gaza and the West Bank and refuses to proceed with a possible Statehood majority, defying the legitimate procedures for obtaining Statehood. Or suppose that an Israeli cult or cabal or conspiracy blocks all attempts toward Statehood, inside or outside of the Knesset and other organs of government. Thereupon Statehood would be stymied. The dolorous story of the past and present would continue into the future. Intolerable for the Palestinians and Arabs, disgraceful and costly for the Israelis and Jews. |
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|  | |  | | "The American State of Canaan" is available on Amazon.com | |
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| | | | "The American State of Canaan" - the book by Al de Grazia | |
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