Alas, I Knew Him Well (Your Rights and Martial Law)

What is martial law?

There are many different answers, and trying to get a straight one from anyone in the federal government has, for my part, been slightly more complicated than drawing blood from the proverbial turnip.

I have been able to ascertain that martial law is enacted on a civilian population when their own authorities (i.e., the city and/or state police) cannot maintain law and order. By its nature, martial law involves federal jurisdiction, meaning that the military will almost certainly become involved.

So, if the military is called in to act as the police, is that necessarily a bad thing? In a world where people all act fairly and the governing power is not biased, the military being called in to do the work of the police is not a bad thing at all. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world.

Everyone who has studied World War II knows that Hitler came into power. What some don't know is that he changed the face of Germany's political atmosphere using something called executive orders. He essentially turned Germany into his playground for the Nazi's Third Reich by utilizing orders that he himself put into place.

So where do Americans have any reason to be concerned about executive orders? Executive Orders 10995, 10997-11000, 11490, 12656, 12919, and 13010 will control all sources of communication, power, food and water, transportation, and employment, as well as give the President control over citizens, business, and places of worship. It gives Cabinet members the authority to control any facet of the economy, and it hands the Director FEMA control of all government agencies in time of national emergency. For more reading on Executive Orders, click here.

In other words, the aforementioned Executive Orders make the following things null and void:

• The Right to Free Speech
  
• The Right to Bear Arms
  
• The Right to Worship as you please
  
• The Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
  
• Miranda Rights

"They can't do that," you might say, or "that's not fair!"

Of course. But to borrow from a newspaper article found in the video game Deus Ex:

A child was once proclaimed by his peers to be King of the World (a position thankfully only available to eight-year olds). He quickly capitalized on his power, making sure that only him and his descendants could ever hold his newly-found office. When his "subjects" protested that it wasn't fair, he simply replied, "I can do anything I want. After all, I'm King of the World." All further rebuttal involved the casting of stones and summary thumpings against the King's skull, much to his surprise.

My question, fellow ATS members: are you prepared to cast stones and thump skulls should your government declare itself "King of [Your] World"?

"What would cause martial law?" It's a fair question. One scenario comes to mind: Kim Jong-il's ability to launch Taepodong-2 missiles with nuclear warheads at American targets. Of course, America would do "everything it could" to defend itself against nuclear attack, but what about all the sheeple running about in mass panic? Even if Kim launched the missiles themselves (without warheads) close enough to get a reaction out of American authorities, the people would begin to get nervous. If that makes the authorities nervous, they might just declare martial law. In a worse-case scenario (but not the worst), if Korea hit just one target with a missile, that might cause enough panic in American citizens for the government to use it as an excuse to declare martial law.

It might seem like a reach until it actually happens, but it is feasible. I just hope Americans don't forget they have rights, even after their leaders have taken them from our hands in name only.