of the Constitution by the military? And if you do support such action, how happy would you be if the military then get rid of the Constitution?"

Sometimes, better to spell these questions out completely, so the brain damaged can begin to grasp what they say the support.

The military is not a monolith. The military consists of a large cross-section of the US, including a lot of "those people" the Republicans are sure are ruining the country. Military leadership does not depend on nepotism or political cronyism, even though officers tend to get into the acadamies due to their officer parents alumni status and there is some form of networking involved in, the average officer still needs to meet the requirements to do the job, and does require to show some form of intelligence to stay in and make rank.

The majority of officers are, for the most part perfectly happy, letting civilian "leadership" take responsibility for political boon-doggles, fuck ups and over-runs so they can continue to live in the socialist paradise that is the U.S. Military. As long as you're in and keeping your nose clean, the military takes care of you...on the taxpayer dime. You don't think most military members know this in the bottom of their hearts, even if they don't want to admit it because of philosopy?

Think about it from their perspective - if there was a military "coup", there would be no corporate golden parachutes to retire to...Military leaders would need to remain in charge and be responsible for the wellbeing of people that aren't in their chain of command or under their immediate tasking.

And despite the moral problems the U.S. military does tend to have due to the nature of the service, the majority of military members are not corrupt. A few "generals" may forget and think they can run things better, but most everyone else realizes it's a mare's nest trying to enforce civil law at the end of a rifle.

Haele

"The military will enforce what *I* believe to be law and justice."

Which is to say the 89% of people that have never served in the military. 1% are bugnuts crazy, which really isn't all that out of line with the rest of Republican/Libertarian "thinkers".

Exactly. That's what they think.

No one who has spent time in a country that was a military dictatorship would want this.

Panama was a military dictatorship for the first 21 years I visited. Military police were on every other corner with automatic weapons. They had a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later. Their decisions to use force were essentially unreviewable. "Oh we shot and killed your son by mistake? Too bad." end of story.

That's for starters.

that it is frighteningly easy for a society to slip into just that well of despair.

Because people start thinking the military *should* enforce whatever prevailing whim of the day is law and justice.

"Somebody" is making my life difficult and:

this survey result unsurprising. The fact that so many approve of, even cheer, the shootings of Michael Brown and others shows that "shoot first, ask questions never" is fine with them.

But, of course, that's when it happens to others. Let these people live under military dictatorship, where they and their own loved ones, not just the others are affected, and I feel sure that suddenly their opinion of military/police rule will change dramatically.

There. I fixed it.