No Posse Can Stop Them

LFET ^ | George F. Smith

[weikel]

Those men( idealist) are useful followers but generally can't be good officiers because idealist don't have great empirical minds. Strategy and tactics are best suited to logical minds. And as general Patton pointed out the purpose of a soldier in the military ain't to die its to kill.

[Poohbah]

I can tell you this much: you would make a totally worthless officer in any army, no matter how amazingly logical you are (or believe yourself to be).

You'd be one of the first ones fragged.

[weikel]

1st you go squealing now your resorting to ad hominems. Nice.

[Poohbah]

Nope. I'm just offering my professional appraisal of your demonstrated troop leadership abilities. Your insistence that one and only one character trait makes a good officer ignores military reality--to the point that if you were given an opportunity to prove yourself correct, you'd alienate your subordinates in the first five minutes, and would probably march them straight into the nearest ambush immediately afterwards. If the enemy didn't settle your hash, your platoon sergeant probably would.

[weikel]

I didn't say there weren't other traits (charisma and other people skills, quick thinking, fearlessness, ruthlessness towards the enemy, spacial skills, study of the enemy to name a few). Im just saying that strategy and tactics are best left to logical thinkers.

[Poohbah]

I didn't say there weren't other traits (charisma and other people skills, quick thinking, fearlessness, ruthlessness towards the enemy, spacial skills, study of the enemy to name a few). Im just saying that strategy and tactics are best left to logical thinkers.

Not really.

The truly great strategists were not especially logical--they could make some amazing sideward leaps of intuition, and were frequently the despair of of their headquarters staffs in that regard.

[zeugma]

Greets.

I think you are mistaken in thinking they wouldn't wage war against their own people. I used to think otherwise, but recently I've come to the conclusion that we've passed the point of no return. We're going to get the dictatorship that the american people seem to be demanding, and there isn't a thing you or I can do about it.

Only a relatively few of us will not submit quietly, and we'll be labeled 'terrorists' or whatever else the Fedgov/media conglomerates feel like calling us, and the rest of the sheeple will go along willingly as long as they can have a temporary illusion of safety.

[weikel]

I believe in intuition but its very rare that someone has consistent good intuition or 6th senses about things. Rarer than the "truely evil" types on the left.

[jody_b]

All that's needed to implement a police state is to (1) call Guard units to active federal duty, (2) issue an executive order declaring firearm ownership abolished for the duration of an emergency, (3) have at least 51 wimp senators and 218 wimp representatives support the executive order, and (4) have a 5-4 majority on the supreme court refuse to review an executive order because it's an issue between the legislative branch and the executive office.

[tpaine]

I'm not obligated to obey your every whim, me boyo.

And in a minute or two trying to connect your question to the discussion here, I don't see the need to answer, at this time.
-- You seem to be losing your spat with poo, and may just want to divert attention. - Find another way.

[Cacique]

Yiu can't be serious.

Look at Chile after Pinochet. The left has gained power again. The very socialists he and his military opposed have returned with a vengeance. The same is happening all over South America.

No, I don't think that is the solution. An aware, free and armed civilian population is the best defence of liberty.

[tpaine]

we'll be labeled 'terrorists' or whatever else the Fedgov/media conglomerates feel like calling us, and the rest of the sheeple will go along
_________________________________

Yep, and such 'labeling' is even going on here, - on FR of all places.

Figure that.

[Let's Roll]

Uh, if the military should suddenly go crazy and decide to turn on the American people - no 19th Century statute is going to stop them.

[tpaine]

Uh, if the military should suddenly go crazy and decide to turn on the American people - no 19th Century statute is going to stop them.
________________________________

Um, you think umpteen million 20th Century deer hunters would let 'them' get a good start? Getta grip.

[Let's Roll]

Gotta grip - think you misunderstood me. Should have used the sarcasm tag I guess.

[exodus]

To: Sir Gawain; Poohbah
I'm actually with RINO Bush on this one.

A) the military would be fairer than civilian police and probably better at stopping street crime.
B) The type of people who enter the military aren't as authoritarian in nature as police and if the government tried to use the military to abuse people there would be a coup, resulting in the destruction of our current corrupt government and the end of the abomination of Democracy..."

"followed by a true conservative military government given the overwhelming number of conservatives in the officier corp.
# 10 by weikel

*************************

You have just said that civilian government is incapable of fairness, and should be replaced by a benevolent military dictatorship.

It's hard for me to believe that's what you meant to say. Could you rephrase your opinion?

[weikel]

Read Parliament of Whores by PJ O'Rourke.

We will have a dictatorship anyway and Ill explain why. Social Security cannot be paid for but it will also be too unpopular to end it. The pols will then start paying out benefits by debasing the dollar on a massive scale. This will eventually cause a total economic collapse. A Caesar of some kind will be named to resolve the crisis. Now if Caesar is a military man he will probably be conservative if he comes from our corrupt political class he'll probably be some blowhard commie meglomaniac like McCain or Lieberman.

[weikel]

The reason the socialist came back is Pinochet in a moment of bad judgement restored Democracy. Democracy always leads to socialism

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship."

[decimon]

'Poohbah' and I had a little discussion on this very subject just the other night. - I contend that american GI's would NOT fight a sustained 'war on terror' against their own countrymen. --

That's not how it works. The military is used to quell any large disturbances and the civilian authorities do their thing from behind the shield of the troops. That's exactly what happened in 1967 at the Pentagon. A company of Combat Engineers repelled a violent group of antiwar demonstrators and established a line with the peaceful demonstrators. Once things calmed down, some Federal Marshals used our line to snatch some sit-down demonstrators from the crowd. Their targets were apparently at random and they seemed to like teenaged girls. They weren't reluctant to use their billy clubs.

[tpaine]

I contend that american GI's would NOT fight a sustained 'war on terror' against their own countrymen. --