Official Marine Corps' Facebook Page Debate: Should U.S. Troops Shoot Tea Party Members And Christians When Obama Gives The Order?



Martial Law On USMC Facebook Page

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has an official Facebook page -- the Pentagon having embraced social networking -- where an interesting discussion thread has been unfolding for several weeks.  Part of it is about President Barack Obama's citizenship -- is he really an American born in the USA.  And part of it is somewhat morbid -- should Marines shoot Tea Party members if Obama declares martial law?  You can read the thread on the Marine Corps' Facebook page by clicking here.

It is more than a little disconcerting to see such a discussion find traction on a military-sponsored website.  After all, who wants to think about U.S. troops opening fire on U.S. citizens, who can imagine such an event.  It did happen at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, when four students were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen ordered onto the campus during the Vietnam War.  President Richard Nixon's policies put the troops on the campus, but Nixon didn't give any orders to the National Guard -- they were sent by Ohio Gov. James Rhodes to quell student unrest.  Only the most rabid conspiracy theorists and Obama-haters must think that the President is considering imposing a military dictatorship with himself as the dictator.  Only the most rabid imagine that Tea Party activists are going to be rounded up and massacred by U.S. Marines.

Here's the post that started the discussion thread on the Marine Corps Facebook page:  "Being a veteran Marine, I ask this in all sincerity expecting a civil responses from those who are always faithful.  An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.  With the current state of affairs in the USA and this President being your Commander in Chief, what can we expect from the Marines who fight to defend this country when/if the time comes for his administration to declare martial law and turn the troops against the citizens of this country; whether it is a Tea Party group, Christians, Gun owners or those patriots who are willing to give their own lives for this country?''

To me, this sounds like something from a provacateur, a message meant to cause disorder in disciplined ranks.  It speaks of the "when/if" moment when Obama gives the order to start using the armed forces against Americans.  It says the President is going to target "patriots."  Free speech is a great gift.  Suggesting to U.S. troops on a military website that the commander-in-chief is going to seize power is inflammatory.  Maybe the website should be shut down, or closely monitored to scrub such talk of violence and despotism.  Republicans and Tea Party candidates fared well in the mid-term elections this week.  Tanks did not roll.  The Republic is safe.