What if, on January 21, 2001 instead of accompanying Vice President-Elect Dick Cheney to the Inauguration, Vice President Al Gore had led a large, angry mob in a march on Florida's State Capitol building in Tallahassee to hand out Presidential survey election ballots ruled illegal by the Supreme Court? What if either of our impeached Presidents, Andrew Johnson or Bill Clinton, had lost their respective removal trials in the U.S. Senate but refused to vacate the White House and relinquish power?
Would police action to remove either Gore, Johnson or Clinton from office, pursuant to orders of the Supreme Court and at the direction of the Attorney General, whether or not carried out by U.S. Marshals, Florida State Troopers, the FBI, Secret Service or the U.S. Army, immediately after which the person next in the line of succession under the Constitution assumes the office of Chief Executive, be considered a coup?
Merriam-Webster defines a coup d'etat as:
a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics ; especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group
President of the United States, Barack Obama aka Leader of the Free World and famed non-meddler in the affairs of Iran, whose small group of ruling Mullahs came to power via a sudden, decisive exercise of political force that overthrew the existing government while violently seizing American hostages, has joined Marxist Dictator Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) and Communist Dictators Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) in denouncing the removal of Honduran President Manual Zelaya as an "illegal coup".
Is this the lowest day in the history of the United States' presidency? Obama's un-clenched hand remains extended to the freshly bloodied fists of Iran's Ayatolla Khameini and President Ahmedinijad. I say freshly since well before the mullahs shot down unarmed innocents in the streets of Tehran of late, their hands have been encrusted for decades with the blood of Americans and others via terrorist attacks in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Khobar Towers. Obama remains willing to "deal" with those murderers.
Yet, the recent events in Honduras have brought about Obama's conversion to the Church of Meddlesomeness to the point of isolating a small, poor Democracy? What great injustice has drawn the stare of our President's evil eye?
Let us look at the series of events our converted Meddler-in-Chief denounces as a "coup", in light of its actual definition (Noah Webster, pictured above) and the Rule of Law:
Constitution limits Presidential terms
Mel Zelaya is, or was, the President of Honduras. He and Hugo Chaves were tight. So tight, it seems, that Zelaya wanted to emulate Hugo by changing the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for office until he durned well gets tired of it.
President plays no role in enactment of Constitutional Amendments
To change the constitution in Honduras you have to convene a constituent assembly. The president cannot do that. The Honduran congress must approve a national referendum calling for the constituent assembly to consider changes to the constitution. Zelaya didn't like the part about the constitution requiring approval of the congress before a national referendum could be called. So ... he decided to call one on his own.
President acts outside his Constitutional Authority
OK .. so here we have President Zelaya calling for a national referendum when he doesn't have the power to do so. The next problem is obtaining ballots! Since the Honduran congress had not called for the referendum, as required by the constitution, the government certainly wasn't going to print the ballots! After all, how smart would it be to print ballots for an illegal referendum? So ... Zelaya had to get the ballots printed elsewhere. Here's an idea! Get his pall Hugo Chavez to print them! Yes! That will work!
Supreme Court declares President's actions unconstitutional
So Chaves prints Zelaya's ballots and they're shipped to Honduras. Enter the Honduran Supreme Court. The court considers Zelaya's election in light of the requirements of the Honduran constitution, and rules the referendum illegal and unconstitutional. The court then issues an order to the Honduran military telling them not to do the logistical work associated with Zelaya's phony referendum. Remember, now ... all of this has one primary goal. To get rid of the term limits limiting Zelaya's rule in Honduras.
President defies Court Order
After the supreme court's decision, General Romeo Velasquez tells President Zelaya that he is subject to a proper order from the Supreme Court and will not be able to carry out Zelaya's referendum. So ... Zelaya fires him. The Supreme Court orders Zelaya to reinstate Velasquez, and Zelaya refuses to do so.
Military detains President as he leads an illegal mob intent on its own coup d'etat
At this point Zelaya's ego is getting the better of him. If the military won't run his illegal referendum, he'll just do it himself. He gins up a mob and leads them to the military compound where Hugo's ballots are stored and then has his supporters begin distributing the ballots to the masses.
President arrested for criminal acts but is mercifully allowed exile rather than prosecution
Based on the Supreme Court's ruling the Honduran attorney general said that the proposed referendum was illegal and said that he would arrest anyone attempting to carry out the election. Zelaya was arrested by the military and was escorted out of the country.
Not a coup
Messy situation, but not a coup, given that the military never seized control of the government as the Speaker of the House assumed the Presidency on an interim basis pending the already scheduled November election.
Not a few suggest that it would have been better to have detained Zelaya in country and removed him via impeachment, but his actions were wreaking havoc on civil order. It should also be noted that all major institutions in the country, including his own political party, supported his removal from office.
Compare to Obama's actions in the USA
Shall we return to the definition of coup d'etats as we analyze how Obama became CEO of Chrysler, General Motors and large segments if the banking industry?
TARP was passed by Congress in 2008 for the purpose of Protecting the financial industry by Relieving banks of Troubled Assets, hence the acronym.
To date, no bank has been relieved from the first troubled asset. Instead, hundreds of billions have been used to buy government ownership in banks, and to takeover GM and Chrysler, all with no constitutionally mandated just compensation paid to creditors or shareholders whose property interests were taken.
Rather, taxpayer money has been funneled thru under duress bankrupticies for political payoffs to labor unions with taxpayers on the hook for future products liability, debts and losses by the auto companies and banks.
In effect, a small group (Obama/Geithner/Bernanke) overthrew and/or altered existing corporate governance under the Rule of Law via the sudden and decisive force of the Executive Branch of the Government of the United States.
Would that President Obama would eschew constructive coups in the America; denounce them among the Axis of Evil; and quit imagining them where they haven't occurred in Central America.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Examiner.com and Minority Report columns
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
Originally published @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed.
Comments
The writer of this article seems to show his colors as a clandestine shill when he refers to Chavez and Ortega as "dictators". Huh? They were democratically elected, and despite their power-grabbing, their "crimes" pale in comparison to the crimes of Bush et al. Meddling in another government's affairs [Iraq, Mexico, Colombia etc.]? Policies which allow for the illegal incarceration and beating of political protesters [like at the Republican National Convention 2008, San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago etc.]? Support for terrible regimes in the Middle East [like Saudi Arabia, Israel]?
I wonder is Mr. Devine is capable of calling a kettle black if the kettle represents Mr. Devine's ideology of anti-leftist politics. Criminals are criminals, but it appears Mr. Devine is just another hack who will only point the finger of justice against the latest threat as dictated by the propaganda masters of the Republican Party.
The World it seems would rather have another Hitler than support a righteous action by a military and a Congress to uphold and defend their Constitution.
Cally, did Bush ever bow to a Saudi King?
Excellent summary Mr. Devine. When the American President sides with dictators like Chavez and Castro, Americans should be embarrassed. (And no Californian, they were not democratically 'elected' without having first taken over the polling places and deciding what information the people could have and who could vote and in fact who could run for election - some democracy - don't make me laugh.)
So Californian, how is that tax-it-if-it-moves thing working out for you? Got your IOU yet?
Talk about a party line hack.... I wonder if Californian is capable of calling a kettle black if the kettle represents Californian's ideology of anti-Republican politics....
Hondurans were abiding by their Constitution, would that President Obama would do the same. His attachment to the world's despots while disrespecting our allies is humiliating - just read the world's newspapers - outside our borders the world isn't enamored by Mr. Obama's weak kneed granny approach to foreign policy.
I am a native Honduran and I am writing from Tegucigalpa its capital. I can tell you that the majority of people (80%) supports the expulsion of Zelaya. He was so corrupt and evil that we prefer to be condemned even by Barack Obama´s administration than to have him back. As the article states the army just did what Congress and Supreme Court ordered and the armed forces were merciful enough that he chosed to be driven to Costa Rica. There is no military in charge, they are not giving orders or assigning new ministers so it cannot be called a military regime. We are proud of our Supreme Court , Congress and especially our armed forces for saving us from becoming another Venezuela with Chavez in charge.
Wow nice article, now i wonder did the US get attacked again after 911? See thats how Democrats are they get on one thing and use it. But god forbid we say something about the great criminal Bill Clinton or the lying Barrack Obama. Did i say Democrats? oh im sorry i meant Socialists. Aye comrade? so now as the country transforms into the next USSR lets ask ourselves who did this? Was it Bush ? oh no, it was Obama. When you look outside and see that your neighbors have the same house , same car, same clothes and no money, thank a Democrat or a Communist their the same. Nice article Devine thanks for killing the american dream hippie.
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