Coronation in the Garrison State: Mike Whitney

[teryang]

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney01202005.html

Coronation in the Garrison State
By MIKE WHITNEY

<The presence of 4,000 fully-armed policemen, many in riot-gear, will be the first thing that most people notice. Security has never been tighter even though there's no indication of a terrorist threat. This unnecessary show of force isn't a sign of paranoia on the part of the administration. It's a political calculation to discourage dissent. The excessive demonstration of power is exactly what the inauguration architects had in mind. It's their way of saying, "Get used to it."

The same rule applies to the 2,500 military personnel who will be deployed to the streets of Washington DC. They serve the dual purpose of intimidating the public and celebrating the further militarization of the country.>

<The police-state transformation of the nation's capital is astonishing. Even the manhole covers have been welded together along the Presidential parade route. No detail, however insignificant, has been ignored in "battening-down" a major metropolitan area. The armed contingents of roaming soldiers and the familiar trappings of Martial Law should remind us of ceremonials in banana republics; the apparent model for the Bush inaugural grand-opera. <snip>

<No matter, the accoutrements of despotism are forever the same; the little man with grand aspirations followed by legions of armed goons. The pageantry of militarism is unalterable; men in suits or starched uniforms waving white hankies from a lofty plateau as the missile launchers and tanks trundle by below.>

A major polling place in my area was militarized on election day, with police emptying the public buildings based on a purported "bomb scare", cutting off roads to the public buildings including the polling place, complete with a section of F-16s roaring overhead. I drew the same conclusions that this author suggests is intended for the viewers of the coronation- "get used to it."