|
Martial law
Martial law won't work. We outnumber them, have more guns than them, and surround them. They'd be hard put to even hold onto the centers of America's cities unless the rest of us let them. And that's before they have to factor in the massive mutiny that orders to gun us down would touch off. The men and women of the military are our family, friends and neighbors. They're aren't going to kill us because some bureaucrat declares a "national emergency." A few might, but they'd be fragged. This is America. That's how we do it here.
In the face of aggressive rioting, a la Detroit '67, troops sent into the cities would fight. They'd have to just to stay alive. But that's not going to happen. Most Americans are simply too smart to stampede into a trap that's set on a timer. But just so we're sure about this, let's factor the possibility of a worst case scenario. Let's just say, hypothetically of course, that some people get stupid on 12.31.99 and it gets out of hand, while simultaneously Aryan/Identity/Phineas terrorists take down parts of the grid and strike out in the dark at soft targets. Then what?
Unless those terrorists are acting as a part of a coup attempt being mounted by their friends in high places, and that coup succeeds, they're doomed. Hopefully, they're doomed either case. But they could be a mighty damn nuisance in the meantime. Paranoid elements of the military/political power structure could conceivably misread the situation as one of a general uprising. The troops would go in and, with some effort, secure at least for a while any city centers to which they were assigned.
But suppress the American countryside, by military force? Forget it. Ain't gonna happen. Politics is numbers. Do the math. Then factor in the terrain and the hundred million or so long arms in civilian hands. The powers that be have most assuredly done that particular bit of math over and over and over. They know the odds. Martial law is their last resort and a risky one at that.
Besides, why on earth would they NEED martial law? When unprovoked we're a compliant people who flock like sheep. Cows are more rebellious than we are. Martial law would be a superfluous and expensive redundancy. It's also likely to backfire. So why risk stampeding us? It doesn't make sense. The powers that be are not the ones who would benefit if we stampeded. They'd much prefer we simply plod along, bleating as we go.
And we do.
_________________________
|
