It's a question Americans might want to consider lest they end up frogs in a pot set to a slow boil.
Back in 2000, when Florida's Secretary of State (who also just happened to be George Bush's election campaign chair for Florida) shut down the recount process and declared her candidate the winner, we all should have known we were in hot water.
Some did. Some -- those not inclined to behave like amphibians -- kicked up a fuss and called for a revolution but they were few. The majority preferred the warmth and anonymity of the pot and now, well, now it's hard to say exactly how far along to cooked we really are. Still we might want to think about it . . . while we still can.
Is it a coup when the military controls the bulk of a nation's wealth while that nation's infrastructure crumbles and its people become more impoverished every day?
Is it a coup when a nation's commander-in-chief declares everlasting war and puts in place a directive that allows him to declare martial law on a whim?
Those of us aspiring to something a little grander than tasting like chicken on the plate of the voracious beast the American War machine has become might want to set some limit . . . to draw, as it were, a line in the sand. It could come in handy once we realize acclimation is not the best response to the loss of our rights as civilians.
Last Thursday, Bob Sato, the producer of a local television show for children and a real un-amphibian kind of guy, drew a line in the sand at Mana Beach on Kaua`i.
Remember Kaua`i, that tiny island opposite ours on the chain . . . the one where the community is trying desperately to fend off a daily assault of hundreds of cars and more hundreds of people . . . the place that got taken over by the rich and famous and now is slowly being usurped by military operations related to the Pacific Military Reseacrh Facility.
Sato had set up at Mana Beach to begin filming for his TV show when a number of men sporting ITT Security shirts confronted him.
The result is currently available for view on YouTube under the heading "Attack at Mana Beach." If the footage ever does air on Channel 52, it will be one of the more important things local kids will ever see.
It in the film, these military contractors (think "Blackwater") tell Sato he has to move from his spot on the beach but he refuses. With no signs posted and Mana Beach a public place, it just so happens that Sato is within his constitutional rights to stay put.Not that this matters to the armed security agents who respond by turning up the heat. They threaten Sato, demanding he turn off his camera and give them the tape; one man even grabs the 60-year old film maker by the neck.
Sato's camera captures the confrontation and while the ten-minute clip is not as refined as the standard Hollywood depiction of an Orwellian future, it's jusy as scary . . . actually more so because it's reality TV and it's not about what could happen but what is happening, right now, rght here in Hawai`i. Over and again Sato is told, "You going up against the U.S. government, bra, you not going win."
Sato ends up leaving the beach and, upon his return home, contacts the police. When an officer arrives at his residence, Sato thinks the policeman is there to take his report, instead he is given a ticket for disorderly conduct. Sato's court hearing is scheduled on Kaua`i December 14.
Which brings us back to the original question of what constitutes a coup?
The dictionary says it is a violent grab of power at the highest levels of government and it is sudden . . .thus the advantage of a slow boil. To talk about the steady progression by which the U.S. military is taking over every facet of American life we must come up with another word. While were at it, we might want to define that line in the sand.
Kristine Kubat is editor of Big Island Weekly. Contact her at kkubat@bigislandweekly.com or (808) 930-8668.
Cherylanne wrote on Dec 16, 2007 12:08 PM: