Thread by @BretDevereaux

I think anyone who reads the blog probably knows what I'm going to say, but:

Calling in elements of the military to deal with civil protest and civil unrest is a bad idea that is likely to lead to more violence, not less. 1/16

This is not what soldiers are trained to do. Yes, there is a riot control field manual (FM 3-19.15; you can find the 2005 version here: fas.org/irp/doddir/arm… ). Yes, they have some training. But this is not the primary mission they prepared for.

And as we've discussed... 2/16

...when you ask a force to do a mission outside of their core training and competence, things tend to go more than a little bit screwy.

Introducing military force into these sorts of circumstances generally tends to escalate, not calm down, the situation. 3/16

Now the state has the advantage - it has more violence. So it can 'win' in the short term by escalating the violence. But you cannot govern a country through violence. You govern a country through power.

Let me explain, by way of a summary of H. Arendt's "On Violence" 4/16

Power is how you get the public to comply without using violence, or even the direct threat of violence. As I tell my students:
- If you run a red light, and get stopped by a cop, that's state violence; they have a weapon and are going to make you do things... 5/16

Whereas:
- If you come to a red light, and stop at the light because there is an cop car there, that's force (distinction: )
- But normally, you come to a red light, there is no one in view anywhere and stop anyway, because that's just what you do... 6/16

...that is power.

Power arises out of legitimacy, it arises out of cultural norms, it arises out of reciprocity with authority.

Foolish leaders mistake violence for a kind of power - this is Arendt's key point. They think more violence=more power... 7/16

...but that's wrong. Where you have power, you don't need violence. And where you use violence *you*don't*have*power.*

The very *use* of violence erodes power, because it strikes at the legitimacy that power arises from. 8/16

The President routinely mistakes violence for power in this way. He is suggesting that he can use the military - which trades in violence, rather than power - to restore order.

And sure, the military can clear the streets. It will be ugly, it will cause damage...9/16

...but they can do it.

But the military cannot reestablish *power* - they cannot restore legitimacy.

Negotiation can do that. Compromise can do that. Community leaders can do that. Elected officials standing together can do that. 10/16

A country can hold another country by force, if they have enough of it. That's what empire is. Clever empires convert that into power as quickly as possible - the Romans did it by co-opting local elites, using their legitimacy as the foundation of Roman power. 11/16

But no country can hold *itself* by force, or through violence for very long. Because the country is the base that generates the force. Even tyrants and dictators have to establish legitimacy and power; they put lots of effort into it. 12/16

And let's be clear, this isn't a two-Americas thing; there are protests in every state in the nation. The mask has been torn off the eyes of a lot of people who didn't know or didn't want to know what was done in their name and they are angry.

That bell cannot be un-rung. 13/16

Things may calm down for a moment. But unless the government reestablishes power - which you cannot do with tear-gar and batons - through legitimacy and legitimacy through **justice**, we're just going to be back here again, and sooner than you'd think... 14/16

So this isn't a moment for tough-talk and bravado. It's a moment for listening, compassion and negotiation.

And unfortunately, I think we all know that is a kind of leadership that the president is both unable and unwilling to perform. 15/16

We're going to get to choose new leaders soon. Be looking out, locally and nationally - which of your representatives saw this as a moment to restore legitimacy and show leadership? Who saw this as an opportunity to wield violence?

And choose accordingly. 16/16

And to my representatives - @RepDavidEPrice , @ThomTillis , @SenatorBurr , @NC_Governor , @verlainsko , @FousheeforNC - I hope you are listening.

We're watching the kind of leadership you show.