And if the President's military authority is absolute...?

Question

...how is it that not one President in our 231 year history has never at least attempted to use it to overthrow the government and install himself as a dictator? Such action would obviously be completely unconstitutional, but if a President has thousands of heavily-armed soldiers backing him up, is there really anything that the few wimpy politicians in Congress could do about it? Or are the Supreme Court justices going to condemn him if there are a sea of tanks encircling the Court house? And a rogue president like this could ensure obedience from his generals by promising them well-paid positions after the coup is over with. I'm certainly not advocating it, but it just seems like it would be so EASY to pull off. Why is it that we have never had a crazy, power-hungry President try this?

I KNOW that we have checks and balances. Congress checks Prez, so does Supreme Court, etc. But if he has THE military at his disposal, he does not have to LISTEN to them anymore. Congress can TELL him to stop, as can the Court, but since the President has guns and armed men at his disposal, he really does not have to heed them. They can play their little "checks and balances" cards all they want, but at the end of the day, brute force would win out.

Answer 1

Until a sitting President signs an Executive Order, giving him
the power to indefinetly postpone elections, because of "homeland security concerns".........oh yeah, I think that's already happened........


:-(

Answer 2

Well perhaps it is so simple as having a strong belief in the country and it's constitution. Having respect for the founders who starved, and fought to gain freedom from a dictatorship or monarchy.
The constitution prohibits an entity from attempting to overthrow the government, there are too many stop safes to keep a rogue from carrying out such an idiot plan.
Additionally, the military serves to defend the country and that for which it stands, even though the Office of the President is the Office of the Commander and Chief, the military leaders are not totally sheep.

Answer 3

The Officers in charge of the military would act as a part of the system which would check the power of such a president. The soldiers themselves would not carry out those orders either.

Also, the secret service itself was installed from the beginning to check the system. They have no exclusive allegience to the president and if ordered by both the Judicial Branch and Congress, in accordance with the Constitutional provisions, would physically remove the president and take him/her through impeachment proceedings.

Answer 4

It would be harder than you think to pull coup off.
First of all the soldiers of the united states military unlike those an many other countries are able to think for them selves.
You have to be able to think to work the weapon systems that we use these days.
Secondly the oath we give is "I will protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America.
And to obey the lawful orders of the President of the United States."
The National guard also has in the oath to obey the lawful orders of the Governor of the state they are serving in.
You would be hard pressed to find enough soldiers and officers that would go along with overthrowing the government.

Answer 5

His authority is NOT absolute. He still has to obey the law. The Armed Forces in this country is made up of people that swore this oath.

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

Evidently WE that have taken it took it seriously!!!

Next question.

SSG US Army 73-82

Answer 6

Wow, looks like in your little world you have this all planned out. First of all, the military is to follow the "lawful" orders of the President. That means nobody in the military has to follow any order if it is unlawful, doesn't matter if comes directly from the president. That would be unconstitutional and we are here to protect the constitution. The president would be thrown out of office before this little up-rising even took place. You're scenario seems more than a little far fetched....sounds like a bad fairytale.

Answer 7

Have you served in the military? I have. I served 22 years.

The answer to your question is that we have a military, not a Praetorian Guard. We swear allegiance to The Constitution. We pledge to obey our orders only as long as they are legal.

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

Answer 8

It's not as easy as people think, the documents that the President is presently putting out will be fought by those who disagree with them. If they are fighting to look like they are "For the people" then they will fight in word only and all their acts will be so much paper.
If they really believe it they will put the weight of their branch behind it.

We'll see what our representatives do, but what they ACTUALLY do, not what they claim they will do, will be truly representative of what they believe.

If they don't fight President Bush's most recent changes to his powers, I would worry, a lot, about what is waiting for us out there that they know about and won't say. I suspect we'll be grateful to all of them one day soon.

Answer 9

Wayne C's answer sums it up. The oath is to protect the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. If a sitting President tries to usurp the Constitution then he becomes an enemy of the Constitution.

Answer 10

It is because we have a system in place of checks and balances so that scenario couldn't ever play out!