I missed Savage’s comments on the Bonus March. What was the gist of it?
He mentioned Douglas MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton who were the officers. MacArthur was a general if I recall correctly. The others were field grade officers.
Savage's main point however was that it could happen again.. this time it will be us the general public.
Certainly the various agencies buying millions of rounds of ammo will likely target us, the critics of Washington.
So the wisdom was whatever the federal gummint owned, it claimed juridiction over and was within its rights to set its own laws and create penalties for lawbreakiers.
Sadly, the bonus army, who knew full well that their bonuses were not payable until a certain number of years had passed. The assumed that they could mobilize and march on DC to force the gummint to pay the bonuses early. They were mistaken in their methods. Anyone who sets foot on federal property is subject to federal law. It's like yielding your rights to a ship's captain the moment that you step across the gunnels.
So the gummint had every right to utilize the military to protect gummint property, wherever it was located, especially in the ten square miles of Washington, D. C. which was ceded to the gummint by a couple of states to keep the bullies from intimidating or injuring the legislators and other gummint employees.
So one could say that congress and the president were in fear of losing their lives when the bonus army began to march. I forget how far the bonus army had breached federal property before the generals received orders to start shooting, but you can bet they were pretty fearful of losing their lives.
So who at this late date can blame the generals for following direct orders to preserve the lives and property of the federal gummint. . . the only mechanism available to the people to prevent anarchy and to keep the rule of law in tact?
So if you want to influence gummint at the survival level, best do it off of federal property using less than violent means. Unless, of course, the gummint and its troops leave its reservation to harass the people and/or break the bonds of the Constitution which was created to keep it in check.