Can I be honest here, for just a minute?
I want to point something out, sort of a pet peeve of mine. I recently spoke to the reaction engendered by people who say they won’t support Paul because he won’t win. This is something that produces a similar response.
It is in regards to the President. He is the Chief Executive of the Executive Branch of the US government. His is the highest elected office in the land, by virtue of the fact that there is one of him and 535 members of the Congress [for those of you keeping score, there are also – currently, but not by law or any other compulsion – nine justices on the Supreme Court; in co-equal governmental divisions, 1 President = 9 Justices = 535 members of Congress (435 Representatives + 100 Senators)]; his decisions are reputedly reached by him alone, and not by means of compromise, coalition-building, or haggling. While the President is not a sovereign, is not a law unto himself [under current law and practice, anyway — just barely, and for the time being], if anyone is the leader of the country, it would be he.
But he is most decidedly not “our” Commander-in-Chief [hereinafter "CINC"]! Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution reads, in part:
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States;
Bill Clinton, and later George Bush [the Younger], were my CINC. My father, both of my grandfathers, almost all of my uncles, and a sizable percentage of my male (and even some of my female) cousins have had, at some point in their lives, a CINC. But the fact of the matter is, the American People at large have never had a CINC.
There has been, in this election cycle, a push to work the CINC moniker into the common lexicon. Republican or Democrat, nearly every candidate has promised to be a more competant, decisive, and effective CINC; candidates for both parties have been emphasizing their military credientials, showcasing their [Establishment] military supporters. “Elect me to be your next CINC” has become a common campaign rally plea, whether for a pro-war Red candidate or an “anti-war” (sic) Blue one.
I shudder to think that this is a deliberate attempt to militarize the general public. If the Establishment can get the People thinking that they have a CINC, then so much the easier to get them to submit to an authoritarian rule. If the Establishment can get the People convinced of the imminent threat by ubiquitous and nefarious enemies, then so much the easier to get them to allow the slow dissolution of personal liberties, to accept injustice, and to allow tyranny.
Please do not lose sight of the fact that, in the military, you do not choose your superiors. They are appointed to you. You do not tell them what to do, how to run things. They tell you what the objectives are, and what you will do to achieve them. No disagreement is brooked, and dissent is harshly punished.
Never forget: War is the health of the state. [Not the People]
