“What would the U.S. Army have done in a coup against the government?”, I asked. “Would the American soldiers have opened fire on the people?” It was my question of the moment sometime late that summer.
My buddy, thirtysomething with the world by the balls, looks at me for a moment, puzzled. “Why would there be a coup?.” He answered a question with another question. Which probably tells you something. But I don’t know what.
We were sitting in an expensive wood-paneled bar downtown drinking boutique drafts and preparing for a grueling night of gallery hopping. Great way to meet women. So, it must have been about the First Thursday of August. Me and a congress of young urban monkeys.
My friend, let’s call him Robin, was dressed in some custom-tailored dark Italian suit which made him look maybe fifteen pounds lighter and five years younger. He needs the help. In the teeth – artificially whitened – of the recession, he’ll see his compensation drop to maybe $165,000.00. U.S. Pre-tax. That doesn’t include the company car, the family medical plan, the generous retirement. The whining clanked my head. Me in my one good outfit.
I can only look at him. I couldn’t believe my ears. This is my friend. A man who once wore his hair long. When that had seemed to mean something politically.
“Why would there be a coup?” This was one answer I hadn’t contemplated. “Well, I’m asking,” Robin continued. “Why would anybody want a coup in the United States?” He wasn’t joking.
Realized at once I had just had one of those too rare moments in life, one of those times you tell yourself, I am so damn glad I was paying attention. Because I learned a valuable lesson right there. To cite an Oriental proverb, the dogs bark, but the caravan passes on.
“Why would there be a coup?”
The global economy is in free fall. Soon the authorities will be treating the poor much like the frontier “settlers” treated the “savages” when we “won” the west. Look for a tightening of restrictions on the reservations. Don’t take any small-poxed blankets. Don’t buy their firewater.
Too many people making too big a mess in way too many places on this planet. Only the rich can afford medical care.
Looked around the table. I am the only military veteran. Back when most soldiers were poorly paid amateurs. Today’s army is a bunch of highly paid professionals, many battle-hardened.
“Of course, they’d shoot.” You really think so?
I know so.
Today, greater economic differences in class, greater than during the time of kings and serfs. If it’s not the crooks hurting us, it’s the politicians. And who can tell the difference any more.
Nobody cares.
Times are getting hard. Lot of people are out of work. Lot of folks lost hope. And a lot of them could be…any one of us.
The lottery is up to twenty-three million zillion something. I had lost track.
“Why would there be a coup?”
Too many Americans are socially unconscious. Robin actually said he didn’t care about the homeless.
Remind myself he’s really just a friend of a friend who doesn’t really like me.
Later, overheard at the Pulliam-Nugent Gallery. “I know I watch too much news, but I still have my traditional values.”
She wasn’t all that traditional.