I’ve been using the C-word a lot since January.
For good reason.
As I said at that link:
“Taking direct control over the functions of the State without legal authority is a coup.”
That was in reference to Musk and the DOGE bois, since they had absolutely no legal authority for the vast majority of what they did.
But it also applies to Trump and the others who do have some legal authority, but nowhere near the amount that they claim. A legitimately-elected and -appointed government who take on more power than they’re legally authorized, and who exercise it in illegal ways, is also a coup.
Political science generally appears to prefer “autogolpe” as the technical term for that, but “coup” is more commonly used outside technical circles and this is not a blog by or aimed at political scientists, so I’m gonna stick with “coup” here.
So, yeah, The United States has undergone a coup.
The current government is a combination of illegitimate actors with no legal authority and legitimate actors reaching far beyond their constitutional and legal powers.
But yesterday’s Big Bad Bill is not that; it’s just an elected legislature acting within its legitimate powers and by its normal procedures.
The fact that a majority of citizens don’t want it and it passed anyway is a result of the ignorance, sloth and malice of a significant percentage of voters as well as a demonstration of the structural problems in the U.S. system of democracy.
We can deal with those problems socially, since they’re social problems.
The only way to fix those issues is by making a better society.
Ignorance can be dealt with through education, public speech and normalizing discussion of political issues.
Sloth, to the extent that it can be addressed, can be dealt with by fixing the places where the voting processes are complex or time consuming, making participating easier.
Malice can probably only be overwhelmed by sheer numbers; sorry.
We can also fix the structural problems in our democracy.
That’s been the main focus of this blog since the first post in 2019: to discuss better ways to organize the State.
So, ya know, there are lots of suggestions for that here.
Click around a bit.
The coup, however, is not just a social or structural problem.
It will probably require more … vigorous solutions.
But our forebears rose to a similar challenge 249 years ago.
We know it can be done; it’s been done here before.
We can do it again.
