Throw the Rascals Out!

   Could there be a military coup in America? The possibility is so remote as to be unthinkable, unless someone raises a private army, and the possibility becomes at least thinkable, if not likely.
   There are at least two reasons. One: Americans are independent thinkers.  At least, we would like to think so. There have been occasions when large numbers follow demagogues and for a time a radical groupthink dominates American life. But these times don't last, even for demagogues such as Father  Charles Coughlin in the 1930s or Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. 
   There have been rare occasions when a single military leader inspired a loyalty strong enough to gather backing for a strike against the government, but these men had a higher loyalty, and refused.
   Dwight D. Eisenhower, a World War II general who later became President, warned of the military-industrial complex as he was leaving office.
   Douglas MacArthur, another enormously popular military leader,was ousted by President Harry Truman for crossing a line and disobeying orders.
   The Bonus Army of disaffected veterans could have been mobilized for a coup in 1933, sponsored by a cabal of industry leaders, but that plan was foiled by the general they tried to recruit to lead the coup and turn out President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (See "The Plot to Seize the White House," by Jules Archer, and "War is a Racket," by Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, USMC, whom the industry leaders approached to lead the coup, but who instead infiltrated the cabal and exposed the plot.)
   As far back the 18th Century, Baron von Steuben, chosen by the Continental Army to improve discipline, lamented that in Germany, his home country, "When I tell a man to do something, he does it. But here, I must explain why, and then he does it."
  So independent thinking, despite occasional lapses into herd mentality, has always been part of American life.

   Reason Two is that there is a better way to trim the nation's leadership of its radical fringe. It's called elections.
   Every two years, voters have the opportunity to change the makeup of the House of Representatives and to modify the scorecard in the Senate. And every four years, the White House may get a new tenant.

   Meanwhile, there are extremists who plan conspiracies to overturn the government, but typically they are as small in number as they are in mind. They are, however, no less dangerous.
   In some countries, the military is also an organized political force. In America, it is not; the government rules the military, not the other way round.
   Even if the unthinkable should become an action, it's more likely that junior officers and the rank and file would ignore invalid, unconstitutional orders that would attempt to overthrow the government.