Re: Y2K: Am I paranoid?

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 19:32:11 -0600

Paul Hughes wrote:
>
> Accoring to the ex-officers I know, the military would love for Clinton to
> issue such an order, because it would finally give them the control they
> have long sought. Once they establish a military coup, they'll probably
> tell Clinton and the rest of the civilian government to go f__k themselves.

In that case, yes, you're paranoid. First, who's "they"? Who's "the military"? The officers? The generals and admirals? The privates? High-level bureaucrats in the DoD? Second, "the military" is not a political force in this country. The Department of Defense has so little clout, in a nation where budgets are determined by nothing else, that the army is deteriorating.

This isn't a banana republic. Nobody has to keep the military happy. They don't have any Senators in their pocket. Nobody in the military structure has any political clout; thus, the kind of people who are looking for power become politicians, not generals. The various elements in the military don't have a cohesive interest group strong enough to have its own agenda.

"The military" hasn't "long sought" _anything_. It simply isn't a power bloc; it doesn't have the power, and it isn't a bloc.

-- 
        sentience@pobox.com         Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
         http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
          http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
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