Anarchy

 It’s really amazing how Donald Trump simply ignores all safeguards, like that Constitutional thingy, or ordinary laws. He just does what he likes, often via that thing called an Executive Order. What’s an Executive Order you ask? Well, it’s simply an expression of desire, or something that The Donald wishes to see happen.  You know, like if he was sitting in the Oval Office and he turned to his idiot secretary and said, “Get me a pizza”.  See, he expects that thing called a pizza to suddenly appear on his desk within, say 15-20 minutes.

So, when he says, via his Executive Order, “Go to that dude’s house, drag him out of it, and send him off to El Salvador, he assumes that dude will soon be headed to some prison in El Salvador.

And what happens if a court issues a statement that says, “No, you cannot legally send that man to a prison in El Salvador, so stop that plane and return him to the US.”? And then nothing happens, cuz The Donald really pays no attention to Courts or the Law generally. He simply says, “Hmmm, No I can’t do that. Sorry”.

And then, there is no general uproar, from any Congressfolks of either political party. Nope, everyone just says, “Huh, well we’re still on for dinner right?” Or, “Well, I gotta go pickup my kid from school. Bye”.

See, and that’s how our world now works. Trump does or says something, something happens and then everyone goes back to whatever they were doing.  Whether he is doing stuff legally, or not in accordance with the law, seems no longer to matter. He does whatever he wants, and everyone else just goes about their business.

So, now I have begun to wonder. Are we living in a new kind of country, where you can simply do whatever you want, and there is no consequence? Suppose, the working gentry in whatever department Trump was ordering about decided they didn’t feel like doing whatever Trump wanted, and simply ignored him? Like, Trump issues an Executive Order, that says, “Abolish that Office in NIH that does Cancer research on children”. And then nobody does anything. That office keeps on truck’n, folks still get paid, and everyone just goes back to work. And Trump yells again, and nothing happens.

Or Trump says, “Eliminate all contracts and grants with Harvard University.” And again, nothing happens. The contracts remain in place and Harvard still gets paid.  And Trump yells a lot, but nothing happens.

Wouldn’t that be interesting? In other words, the working stiffs throughout government, decide that Trump doesn’t actually exist, so nothing he says or writes  about matters, and they are free to ignore everything coming from Trump.  Now that would be funny. Scary for us, maybe, cuz it would mean we have no functioning government, or rather, we have a government on autopilot, no longer susceptible to our pseudo-president.  Yeah, I understand that would be a terrifying situation, but would it be any more terrifying than what we have now??? Hmmm, I no longer know.

We have now a system of government, in which no one is really in charge of anything any longer. Trump is a kind of Absolute King. He says something, and everyone is expected to obey. We have courts but they seem no longer to operate in any sensible way. And Trump does or says something terminally stupid, and no one does anything.

So maybe everyone should simply ignore him when he says anything obviously stupid, or even illegal. And how would we know it is stupid or illegal? Well, think about it, you Government workers, something Trump can’t or won’t do, cuz his brain seems not to function.

So, we then have a Government in which thousands of people can decide to do or not to do whatever they decide is a good thing for America.  Hahahahahahaha.

Blackwater & Anarchy

I am reading the most recent newspaper article on Blackwater, this one about the trial of five Blackwater employees who are charged with the illegal killing of innocent civilians on a Baghdad street corner. Blackwater, if you recall is the US security firm headquartered in our very own North Carolina. For many millions (now over a billion?) of dollars in sole source contracts, Blackwater provides “security” to diplomats and other non-military officials who attempt to do business in the anarchic state of Iraq. I guess because Iraq is anarchic, largely lawless, Blackwater feels free to dispense its force at any time and in any place it chooses. Iraqi citizens are incensed, as well they might be.
Blackwater exists in Iraq mainly because we and other states choose to pretend that “normal business” can still be conducted in Iraq, so long as adequate security can be provided. Diplomats, commercial firms eager to do business, and others try to live and work in Iraq. They hire Blackwater to secure their workers. Blackwater provides this security by arming its employees perhaps better than our military, and by giving them a certain “freedom of action” to carry out its assigned mission.
Regardless of the outcome of this particular trial, I am left with this thought—why should we need to spend money on Blackwater? The logic seems to be something like this: Iraq is a highly dangerous place, between those nasty IED’s (improvised explosive devices) and the even simpler explosive vests worn by the faithful to blow up people, places and other onlookers. The place must resemble the trenches in France during WW I. Therefore, security services like Blackwater are necessary.
I would certainly agree that some force is useful if one insists on living and working in Iraq. I am drawn to the belief, however, that Iraq is a war zone, where killing is random, and law is largely absent. Normal business carried out by non-Iraqi’s should not exist in Iraq. Diplomacy should not exist in Iraq, so diplomats should not live there, and, therefore, should not need the services of Blackwater.
Let’s be clear—Iraq is an anarchic state. There are others—Afghanistan, Somalia, and, lately, Pakistan. In such countries, not yet nation-states, we need a military presence, and probably police forces, but not diplomats. Diplomats come later, after these states achieve civilized status.
I would argue for a brand new role for the world body—yes, the United Nations. We need some way for the UN to declare certain states to be anarchic, and then to move armed forces into those states to secure the states so as to protect its citizens. The people in Somalia, Afghanistan, et al, should not have to wonder when an armed gang will swoop into their village to cut off the heads or hands of various citizens.
If we can afford to pay Blackwater, it occurs to me we can afford to pay for more US/NATO/UN armed troops-actual soldiers. We pay Blackwater forces several times what we pay US troops. Why not hire more actual soldiers? They are at least accountable to the various military chains of command for their actions. Blackwater needs to leave places like Iraq. Maybe Exxon could then hire Blackwater to escort its tankers throughout the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Africa.