A Stealth Coup d’État in the United States

OpEds—Different Voices
REPOSTED BY READER REQUEST

Prefatory note by the editor:  Now the warnings are even coming from the highest places, from insiders, people who ought to know.  American democracy—never as strong and invulnerable as their propagandists and mythologists would have it— is now in shreds and plummeting toward disintegration. In such circumstances, the American nation is indebted to those who speak with a clear voice and who put loyalty to authentic democracy above self-gain and careerism.  Col. Sellin is a controversial figure. An impulsive and brave man, he spoke his mind and promptly got in trouble with the army, an organization in all latitudes not particularly friendly toward what it regards as “breaches of discipline”, in this case questioning the legitimacy of the Commander in Chief, the corruption in all sectors of American society, and the scandalous manner in which the United States is misgoverned. 

Perhaps there’s only one place where I differ with Col. Sellin.  While his analysis of the political status quo is lucid and perfectly on the mark, correctly identifying the duopoly as part of the endemic corruption killing our democracy (the “political-media-military complex”, with the “political” encompassing the undemocratic control of government by corporate power) he places undue emphasis on things that should be relegated to a secondary or tertiary order of importance, or dismissed entirely, such as the doubts about Obama’s birth certificate, his draft status and a number of other details that pale in comparison with the man’s real criminality in serving as a shill for Wall Street and pursuing wars and extrajudicial powers explicitly condemned by the principles of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal and later codifications by the United Nations and other international bodies.

In this context, it may be good to remember that in America today the US military officer corps is split between three sectors: the corporatists, quite adept at following the business culture goals and values; the Constitutionalists, who see the US armed forces as an instrument to protect the American people against any form of tyranny or [genuine] threat, foreign or homegrown, and who are increasingly uncomfortable serving as the mailed fist of corporate power around the world, and the opportunists who sit on the fence and play with whomever and whatever will help their careers. Col. Sellin is clearly a Constitutionalist. His evolution is worthy of attention.—P. Greanville

By Lawrence Sellin

Col. Lawrence Sellin was fired because he didn’t clear his remarks through public affairs and failed to clear “written or oral presentations to the media” through a designated public affairs officer. (COURTESY OF COL. LAWRENCE SELLIN)

  [O]n November 19, 1863 during the Consecration of the National Cemetery following the July 1-3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln pondered whether the new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal could long endure. Contrary to Lincoln’s hope, the government of the people, by the people and for the people is now perishing from the earth.  Military historian Edward Luttwak described a coup d’état as an infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder. The U.S. government has been infiltrated by ambitious and greedy men and women whose allegiance is not to their country, but to themselves and their political party. The aims and conduct of the Democrat and Republican establishments have become antithetical to the principles upon which the nation was founded. Their aims are driven by political expediency and winning elections for the sole purpose of attaining and maintaining personal power and profit. Their conduct is based on remaining unconstrained by the Constitution and the rule of law and unaccountable to the American people. Elections are in no way about representative government, but instead are contests to determine who will possess the power to allocate favors and redistribute wealth from ordinary Americans to a small group of political supporters.

Corrupt politicians, the front men and operational arm of networked financiers, siphon off the wealth created by hard-working Americans while preserving the illusion of democracy for the now disenfranchised voters. Faux journalists, who falsely proclaim themselves as tireless defenders of liberty, then distort the news in an effort to manipulate public opinion to further the goals of selected politicians and their wealthy benefactors.

The real issue of the 2012 campaign is not Obama’s record or Romney’s business acumen. It is the endemic corruption in the federal government perpetrated by a permanent political class, financed by crony capitalism and facilitated by a fawning media. The United States is on the verge of collapse because without adherence to the Constitution and respect for the rule of law no economic or any other policy can succeed. As long as the corrupt status quo continues, it matters little who wins in November because, ultimately, the ordinary American loses.

Many of those presently in the federal government have violated their oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution, they have obstructed justice and they have scorned and rejected citizens’ attempts to petition for the redress of grievances. Democrat and Republican elected officials continue to block any objective investigation of Barack Obama’s personal history because it would reveal dereliction of duty by most and criminal conspiracy by many. The politicians recognize that if the truth was told about the depth of the corruption and the extent of the criminality in the government, the American people would rise up in open rebellion against those who have undermined the Constitution and flouted the rule of law.

As Abraham Lincoln said, the American people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. The loyalty of the American people is to our country and our Constitution, not to shady officeholders or petty bureaucrats. Between now and Election Day on November 6, 2012, there is a window of opportunity to stop the coup d’état, restore the Constitution, uphold the rule of law and pave the way for the election and appointment of honest members of government. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?”

The battle line of the Second American Revolution has been drawn: expose Obama and the entire corrupt system protecting him will also be exposed. The time for education and persuasion is over. The time for resistance has come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. Colonel Sellin is the author of “Afghanistan and the Culture of Military Leadership”. 

He receives email at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com