US 'very closely' watching Syrian chemical weapons
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. and its allies are closely monitoring Syria's stockpiles of chemical arms and portable anti-aircraft missiles, a State Department official says, amid concerns that the country's unconventional weapons could fall into the hands of terrorist or militant groups while the 11-month-old uprising continues.
"Syria is a country of significant proliferation concern, so we monitor its chemical weapons activities very closely," the State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence-related matters. "We believe Syria's chemical weapons stockpile remains under Syrian government control, and we will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to impede proliferation (of) Syria's chemical weapons program."
The official added that the U.S. is in discussion with its allies on ways to ensure that Syria's stockpile of portable anti-aircraft missiles, called Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS, aren't stolen or diverted. "We are consulting with allies and partners as we plan for a variety of contingencies," the official said.
Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have been critical of U.S. efforts to secure Libya's chemical and unconventional arsenals, saying the Obama administration should have responded more quickly during that crisis and now faces the task of trying to account for thousands of missing portable anti-aircraft missiles.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_SYRIA_CHEMICAL_WEAPONS?SITE=VTBRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Let's destabilize every Arab and Persian government and arm every terrorist group in the Mideast and Persian Gulf, and see what happens. Brilliant.
CAPHAVOC
(1,138 posts)Obama is going to bomb Iran. In a couple months after the "sanctions" fail as usual. That will leave Israel free to take out the Palestinians, Syria, Lebanon, and maybe even the Egyptian military. The media is beating the war drums as we speak. War clouds are on the horizon.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Now, I don't think that's considered essential, any more.
It's like they're on a tight schedule.
CAPHAVOC
(1,138 posts)Instead of bailing out Greece and Wall Street Obama should bail out of the Mid-East. On the quick.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Cold War. Now, significant change just sets off unmanageable chaos, which favors third parties. The result, as far as I see it, is just further Imperial Overreach and weakening of the U.S. That is a shame, because we won't like any of the plausible alternatives.
stockholmer
(3,751 posts)then bomb Iran (and drag the USA into it) without fear of Hezbolleh rockets raining down from Syria. Lebanon is even closer to Israel, and they pounded Israel in the last conflict when the zionists in the Israeli government tried to invade them. Israel is determined to avenge that defeat. That said, Syria has far more firepower than Lebanon (Russia sells Syria more arms each year than the US sells to to Israel), and can really ramp up the Lebanese response via Hezbollah supply lines.
The last time Iran (or the Persian Empire before it was Iran) attacked and invaded another country was 1795, during the Battle of Krtsanisi with Georgia. That was 217 years ago.
The US on the other hand:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/12/we-re-at-war-and-we-have-been-since-1776/
Since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 215 out of her 236 calendar years of existence. In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars.
To put this in perspective:
Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.
No U.S. president truly qualifies as a peacetime president. Instead, all U.S. presidents can technically be considered war presidents.
The U.S. has never gone a decade without war.
The only time the U.S. went five years without war (1935-40) was during the isolationist period of the Great Depression.
Year-by-year Timeline of Americas Major Wars (1776-2011)
1776 American Revolutionary War, Chickamagua Wars, Second Cherokee War, Pennamite-Yankee War
1777 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Second Cherokee War, Pennamite-Yankee War
1778 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1779 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1780 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1781 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1782 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1783 American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War
1784 Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War, Oconee War
1785 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1786 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1787 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1788 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1789 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1790 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1791 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1792 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1793 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1794 Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War
1795 Northwest Indian War
1796 No major war
1797 No major war
1798 Quasi-War
1799 Quasi-War
1800 Quasi-War
1801 First Barbary War
1802 First Barbary War
1803 First Barbary War
1804 First Barbary War
1805 First Barbary War
1806 Sabine Expedition
1807 No major war
1808 No major war
1809 No major war
1810 U.S. occupies Spanish-held West Florida
1811 Tecumsehs War
1812 War of 1812, Tecumsehs War, Seminole Wars, U.S. occupies Spanish-held Amelia Island and other parts of East Florida
1813 War of 1812, Tecumsehs War, Peoria War, Creek War, U.S. expands its territory in West Florida
1814 War of 1812, Creek War, U.S. expands its territory in Florida, Anti-piracy war
1815 War of 1812, Second Barbary War, Anti-piracy war
1816 - First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war
1817 - First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war
1818 First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war
1819 Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war
1820 Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war
1821 Anti-piracy war (see note above)
1822 Anti-piracy war (see note above)
1823 Anti-piracy war, Arikara War
1824 Anti-piracy war
1825 Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war
1826 No major war
1827 Winnebago War
1828 No major war
1829 No major war
1830 No major war
1831 - Sac and Fox Indian War
1832 Black Hawk War
1833 Cherokee Indian War
1834 Cherokee Indian War, Pawnee Indian Territory Campaign
1835 Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War
1836 Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War, Missouri-Iowa Border War
1837 Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War, Osage Indian War, Buckshot War
1838 Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Buckshot War, Heatherly Indian War
1839 Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars
1840 Seminole Wars, U.S. naval forces invade Fiji Islands
1841 Seminole Wars, U.S. naval forces invade McKean Island, Gilbert Islands, and Samoa
1842 Seminole Wars
1843 U.S. forces clash with Chinese, U.S. troops invade African coast
1844 Texas-Indian Wars
1845 Texas-Indian Wars
1846 Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars
1847 Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars
1848 Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War
1849 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians
1850 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, California Indian Wars, Pitt River Expedition
1851 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, California Indian Wars
1852 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, California Indian Wars
1853 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, Walker War, California Indian Wars
1854 Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians
1855 Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Yakima War, Winnas Expedition, Klickitat War, Puget Sound War, Rogue River Wars, U.S. forces invade Fiji Islands and Uruguay
1856 Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Puget Sound War, Rogue River Wars, Tintic War
1857 Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Utah War, Conflict in Nicaragua
1858 Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Mohave War, California Indian Wars, Spokane-Coeur dAlene-Paloos War, Utah War, U.S. forces invade Fiji Islands and Uruguay
1859 Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Pecos Expedition, Antelope Hills Expedition, Bear River Expedition, John Browns raid, U.S. forces launch attack against Paraguay, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1860 Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Paiute War, Kiowa-Comanche War
1861 American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign
1862 American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Dakota War of 1862,
1863 American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Colorado War, Goshute War
1864 American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Colorado War, Snake War
1865 American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Colorado War, Snake War, Utahs Black Hawk War
1866 Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utahs Black Hawk War, Red Clouds War, Franklin County War, U.S. invades Mexico, Conflict with China
1867 Texas-Indian Wars, Long Walk of the Navajo, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utahs Black Hawk War, Red Clouds War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War, U.S. troops occupy Nicaragua and attack Taiwan
1868 Texas-Indian Wars, Long Walk of the Navajo, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utahs Black Hawk War, Red Clouds War, Comanche Wars, Battle of Washita River, Franklin County War
1869 Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utahs Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War
1870 Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utahs Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War
1871 Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utahs Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War, Kingsley Cave Massacre, U.S. forces invade Korea
1872 Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Utahs Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Modoc War, Franklin County War
1873 Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Modoc War, Apache Wars, Cypress Hills Massacre, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1874 Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Red River War, Mason County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1875 Conflict in Mexico, Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Eastern Nevada, Mason County War, Colfax County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1876 Texas-Indian Wars, Black Hills War, Mason County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1877 Texas-Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Black Hills War, Nez Perce War, Mason County War, Lincoln County War, San Elizario Salt War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1878 Paiute Indian conflict, Bannock War, Cheyenne War, Lincoln County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1879 Cheyenne War, Sheepeater Indian War, White River War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1880 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1881 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1882 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1883 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1884 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1885 Apache Wars, Eastern Nevada Expedition, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1886 Apache Wars, Pleasant Valley War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1887 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1888 U.S. show of force against Haiti, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1889 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1890 Sioux Indian War, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Ghost Dance War, Wounded Knee, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1891 Sioux Indian War, Ghost Dance War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1892 Johnson County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico
1893 U.S. forces invade Mexico and Hawaii
1894 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1895 - U.S. forces invade Mexico, Bannock Indian Disturbances
1896 U.S. forces invade Mexico
1897 No major war
1898 Spanish-American War, Battle of Leech Lake, Chippewa Indian Disturbances
1899 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1900 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1901 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1902 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1903 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1904 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1905 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1906 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1907 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1908 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1909 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1910 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1911 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1912 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars
1913 Philippine-American War, Banana Wars, New Mexico Navajo War
1914 Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico
1915 Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico, Colorado Paiute War
1916 Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico
1917 Banana Wars, World War I, U.S. invades Mexico
1918 Banana Wars, World War I, U.S invades Mexico
1919 Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico
1920 Banana Wars
1921 Banana Wars
1922 Banana Wars
1923 Banana Wars, Posey War
1924 Banana Wars
1925 Banana Wars
1926 Banana Wars
1927 Banana Wars
1928 Banana Wars
1930 Banana Wars
1931 Banana Wars
1932 Banana Wars
1933 Banana Wars
1934 Banana Wars
1935 No major war
1936 No major war
1937 No major war
1938 No major war
1939 No major war
1940 No major war
1941 World War II
1942 World War II
1943 Wold War II
1944 World War II
1945 World War II
1946 Cold War (U.S. occupies the Philippines and South Korea)
1947 Cold War (U.S. occupies South Korea, U.S. forces land in Greece to fight Communists)
1948 Cold War (U.S. forces aid Chinese Nationalist Party against Communists)
1949 - Cold War (U.S. forces aid Chinese Nationalist Party against Communists)
1950 Korean War, Jayuga Uprising
1951 Korean War
1952 Korean War
1953 Korean War
1954 Covert War in Guatemala
1955 Vietnam War
1956 Vietnam War
1957 Vietnam War
1958 Vietnam War
1959 Vietnam War, Conflict in Haiti
1960 Vietam War
1961 Vietnam War
1962 Vietnam War, Cold War (Cuban Missile Crisis; U.S. marines fight Communists in Thailand)
1963 Vietnam War
1964 Vietnam War
1965 Vietnam War, U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic
1966 Vietnam War, U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic
1967 Vietnam War
1968 Vietnam War
1969 Vietnam War
1970 Vietnam War
1971 Vietnam War
1972 Vietnam War
1973 Vietnam War, U.S. aids Israel in Yom Kippur War
1974 Vietnam War
1975 Vietnam War
1976 No major war
1977 No major war
1978 No major war
1979 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan)
1980 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan)
1981 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), First Gulf of Sidra Incident
1982 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Lebanon
1983 Cold War (Invasion of Grenada, CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Lebanon
1984 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Persian Gulf
1985 - Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua)
1986 Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua)
1987 Conflict in Persian Gulf
1988 Conflict in Persian Gulf, U.S. occupation of Panama
1989 Second Gulf of Sidra Incident, U.S. occupation of Panama, Conflict in Philippines
1990 First Gulf War, U.S. occupation of Panama
1991 First Gulf War
1992 Conflict in Iraq
1993 Conflict in Iraq
1994 Conflict in Iraq, U.S. invades Haiti
1995 Conflict in Iraq, U.S. invades Haiti, NATO bombing of Bosnia and Herzegovina
1996 Conflict in Iraq
1997 No major war
1998 Bombing of Iraq, Missile strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan
1999 Kosovo War
2000 No major war
2001 War on Terror in Afghanistan
2002 War on Terror in Afghanistan and Yemen
2003 War on Terror in Afghanistan, and Iraq
2004 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2005 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2006 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2007 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen
2008 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2009 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2010 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen
2011 War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen; Conflict in Libya (Libyan Civil War)
Hugabear
(10,340 posts)In other words, since the US emerged as a sovereign nation, has any other country in the world engaged in more warfare than the US?
Your post really puts things into perspective.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)The largest arms dealer in the world (including documented sales of chemical weapons)
is "concerned" about the contents of the arsenal of a tiny Middle-Eastern nation in case
they "fall into the hands of terrorist or militant groups"?
What's up guys? Seeing a risk to your profit margin or something?
Mist
(5,780 posts)Former_DU_Member
(33 posts)have a roast of sorts. One thing is fer sure, if you have the biggest stick you will have to answer to absolutely no one and you will be able to dictate to everyone.
We've certainly got a lot of balls.
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/11/8/u_s_broadcast_exclusive_fallujah_the
Democracy Now! airs an exclusive excerpt of "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre," featuring interviews with U.S. soldiers, Iraqi doctors and international journalists on the U.S. attack on Fallujah. Produced by Italian state broadcaster RAI TV, the documentary charges U.S. warplanes illegally dropped white phosphorus incendiary bombs on civilian populations, burning the skin off Iraqi victims. One U.S. soldier charges this amounts to the U.S. using chemical weapons against the Iraqi people. [includes rush transcript]
nanabugg
(2,198 posts)You would think they could use a more original script?
stockholmer
(3,751 posts)Excerpts from the book Media Control
by Noam Chomsky
EARLY HISTORY OF PROPAGANDA
... the first modern government propaganda operation ... was under the Woodrow Wilson Administration. Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1916 on the platform "Peace Without Victory." That was right in the middle of the World War I. The population was extremely pacifistic and saw no reason to become involved in a European war. The Wilson administration was actually committed to war and had to do something about it. They established a government propaganda commission, called the Creel Commission, which succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population which wanted to destroy everything German, tear the Germans limb from limb, go to war and save the world. That was a major achievement, and it led to a further achievement. Right at that time and after the war the same techniques were used to whip up a hysterical Red Scare, as it was called, which succeeded pretty much in destroying unions and eliminating such dangerous problems as freedom of the press and freedom of political thought. There was very strong support from the media, from the business establishment, which in fact organized, pushed much of this work, and it was, in general, a great success.
Among those who participated actively and enthusiastically in Wilson's war were the progressive intellectuals, people of the John Dewey circle, who took great pride, as you can see from their own writings at the time, in having shown that what they called the "more intelligent members of the community," namely, themselves, were able to drive a reluctant population into a war by terrifying them and eliciting jingoist fanaticism. The means that were used were extensive. For example, there was a good deal of fabrication of atrocities by the Huns, Belgian babies with their arms torn off, all sorts of awful things that you still read in history books. Much of it was invented by the British propaganda ministry, whose own commitment at the time, as they put it in their secret deliberations, was "to direct the thought of most of the world." But more crucially they wanted to control the thought of the more intelligent members of the community in the United States, who would then disseminate the propaganda that they were concocting and convert the pacifistic country to wartime hysteria. That worked. It worked very well. And it taught a lesson: State propaganda, when supported by the educated classes and when no deviation is permitted from it, can have a big effect. It was a lesson learned by Hitler and many others, and it has been pursued to this day.
snip
... liberal democratic theorists and leading media figures, like, for example, Walter Lippmann, who was the dean of American journalists, a major foreign and domestic policy critic and also a major theorist of liberal democracy. If you take a look at his collected essays, you'll see that they're subtitled something like "A Progressive Theory of Liberal Democratic Thought. " Lippmann was involved in these propaganda commissions and recognized their achievements. He argued that what he called a "revolution in the art of democracy," could be used to "manufacture consent, " that is, to bring about agreement on the part of the public for things that they didn't want by the new techniques of propaganda. He also thought that this was a good idea, in fact, necessary. It was necessary because, as he put it, "the common interests elude public opinion entirely" and can only be understood and managed by a "specialized class "of "responsible men" who are smart enough to figure things out. This theory asserts that only a small elite, the intellectual community that the Deweyites were talking about, can understand the common interests, what all of us care about, and that these things "elude the general public." This is a view that goes back hundreds of years. It's also a typical Leninist view. In fact, it has very close resemblance to the Leninist conception that a vanguard of revolutionary intellectuals take state power, using popular revolutions as the force that brings them to state power, and then drive the stupid masses toward a future that they're too dumb and incompetent to envision for themselves. The liberal democratic theory and Marxism-Leninism are very close in their common ideological assumptions. I think that's one reason why people have found it so easy over the years to drift from one position to another without any particular sense of change. It's just a matter of assessing where power is. Maybe there will be a popular revolution, and that will put us into state power; or maybe there won't be, in which case we'll just work for the people with real power: the business community. But we'll do the same thing. We'll drive the stupid masses toward a world that they're too dumb to understand for themselves.
Lippmann backed this up by a pretty elaborated theory of progressive democracy. He argued that in a properly functioning democracy there are classes of citizens. There is first of all the class of citizens who have to take some active role in running general affairs. That's the specialized class. They are the people who analyze, execute, make decisions, and run things in the political, economic, and ideological systems. That's a small percentage of the population. Naturally, anyone who puts these ideas forth is always part of that small group, and they're talking about what to do about those others. Those others, who are out of the small group, the big majority of the population, they are what Lippmann called "the bewildered herd." We have to protect ourselves from "the trampling and roar of a bewildered herd". Now there are two "functions" in a democracy: The specialized class, the responsible men, carry out the executive function, which means they do the thinking and planning and understand the common interests. Then, there is the bewildered herd, and they have a function in democracy too. Their function in a democracy, he said, is to be "spectators," not participants in action. But they have more of a function than that, because it's a democracy. Occasionally they are allowed to lend their weight to one or another member of the specialized class. In other words, they're allowed to say, "We want you to be our leader" or "We want you to be our leader." That's because it's a democracy and not a totalitarian state. That's called an election. But once they've lent their weight to one or another member of the specialized class they're supposed to sink back and become spectators of action, but not participants. That's in a properly functioning democracy......................
snip