It’s a great way to start 2022. No, I’m not talking about the pandemic and the cold weather, I’m talking about statements by some fortune tellers predicting the end of the great American experiment – representative democracy.
And if you think that can’t happen, it already has. After the 2020 election, 124 retired generals and admirals signed a letter challenging the results of the presidential election.
Eaton went on to tell NPR that while there was a low probability of such a military coup, any attempted coup by US forces would have “major repercussions.”
Eaton strongly suggested that every high schooler should have a thorough knowledge of American civics, including an understanding of the Constitution, to reduce the possibility of a military or civilian coup, as we saw with the January 6, 2021 riot.
On January 3rd, The Guardian published two articles on the subject. The first was the prediction of Thomas Homer-Dixon, founding director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in British Columbia.
Many state GOP-led lawmakers have enacted legislation that would allow them to reverse the will of the people and elect a Republican, say former President Trump, as the winner of the state’s electoral votes. It would be a political coup d’etat.
He went on to say that the likes of Tucker Carlson and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have turned the GOP “into an almost fascist cult of personality that is a perfect tool for destroying democracy … If it comes into office.” returns, (Trump) will be the wrecking ball that will destroy democracy (and) the process will produce political and social shambles.”
To emphasize this point, a second article was published on the same day, stating that the coup had already begun.
That report indicated that “Donald Trump loyalists Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn are at the forefront of expanding the Trumpists’ influence at the local level of US politics.”
We’ve seen this at recent school board and city council meetings, where Trumpers mistakenly believe critical race theory is being taught in public schools and mask and vaccine mandates have somehow violated education, disrupting meetings and threatening elected officials.
Meanwhile, Flynn was being punished for proposing an authoritarian theocratic government with “one religion” for America. Flynn said that religion must be Christianity, even at the expense of other world religions and the First Amendment.
On Jan. 4, during an appearance on MSNBC’s “All-In with Chris Hayes,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) hinted that the threat of a revolt sparked by a Democratic victory in the 2022 midterm elections was growing political instability as early as 2023. He added that if the Republicans win the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, “voting in this country as we know it will be gone.”
During the civil war, the nation was divided into two camps politically, economically and regionally. If the new predictions are correct, our next civil war will be divided by socioeconomic status and politics, by trust or lack of trust in the legal system.
If the actions of participants in the January 6 uprising were any indication of what is to come, there could be violence and open bloodshed after the 2024 election cycle.
If General Eaton is right, the US military could be split in two, and open war would be inevitable.
Unless common ground is found between the two political factions, Homer-Dixon’s prediction will come true and a right-wing dictatorship will rule our nation by 2030.
If Rep. Swalwell is right, 2022 could be the last truly free election in the United States.
I sure hope they’re all wrong, but who knows what the future will bring.
