It's a Coup. We Need to Call It What It Is

Dictionary.com tells us that a coup is a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force. Synonyms include coup d'etat, putsch, and takeover.

A group of corporatists and neocons, using fundies as dupes, desperate that their attempt to seize power by impeaching Bill Clinton had failed, stole the 2000 election and the 2004 election. George Bush is just their puppet, the purportedly likeable cowboy that they used as a front man for their coup.

The difference between the American coup and, for example, a South American or African coup was that, in America, the might of the Supreme Court, rather than the might of the Army, was used to effect the coup. Like a skilled pickpocket, the corporatists and neocons stole power in plain sight. Unable to believe its eyes, America pretended that there had been no coup.

But that doesn't change reality. It doesn't make those in power today any less guilty of a coup. Nor does it change the fact that the tools we'd normally use in a democracy to effect a change of leadership won't work when dealing with a group that steals elections and engages in all the illegal acts against American citizens (warrantless spying, detention w/o charges or access to a lawyer, free-speech zones, arrest of those wearing t-shirts that could displease the emperor, leaking state secrets to smear opponents, lying us into a war where they've (via Haliburton) stolen millions of dollars and killed thousands of innocents, etc., etc., etc.) that this group of fascists are eager to perform.

The Democrats must quit pretending that we are dealing with honest opponents in a fair election. They must quit pretending that, if the rank and file will just donate enough money to fill the pockets of the right consultants, we can take our government back. Those tactics work if the other side doesn't get to "count" the votes in a darkened back room. They won't work in the American Interregnum, as I think this era will come to be known, because the other side steals elections.

So what is the answer? I don't believe in giving up. So the first thing the Democrats must do is begin to call the current administration what it is -- a fascist coup. They must begin to acknowledge what we're up against and quit living in the pretend world that they wish we still inhabited. They need to begin, loudly, announcing that the Republicans have stolen and will continue to steal elections. Will the press scoff? Yes, loudly at first. Democrats will be called poor losers, shrill, and insane, and will be accused of undermining our democracy (remember these people project like a metroplex). That can't stop us. The Democrats need to present evidence to back up the claim and they need to keep making the claim. They need to announce that the Republicans plan to steal the election this fall and state how they expect the heist will be pulled off. When the Republicans steal the November election, the Democrats need to call for, and we need to be ready for, massive civil disobedience. Let's not wait until November 8th to start organizing.

It's a coup. The first step towards replacing it and restoring American democracy is acknowledging what it is and naming it. There's power in naming.