Power Vacuum
When I was a kid and reading (on my own) about World War II, I asked my dad why we didn’t just kill Hitler? In my head, with all the bombers and the planes and the tanks and the troops, we should have been able to kill him. And, to me, killing him would have ended the war. His reply was simple.
“Sometimes it’s better to fight the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
It was a simple explanation to a very, very complicated question. I didn’t understand, although I’m sure my dad did, what eliminating someone like Hitler does, or more appropriately, what it creates. It creates a power vacuum. I don’t know how common that term was when I was younger, but it became ultimately important to me in the years I was in uniform.
A power vacuum is exactly what you assume it is. Whenever there is a loss of control (power), someone or something moves to take control. In the case of a leader, or leadership, when someone loses control or is removed from power, it creates a void that needs to be filled; new leadership. If there is no plan for succession, or there is a conflict as to who or what fills that void, a vacuum is created that will eventually be filled by someone or something new.
This vacuum is often filled as a result of conflict; whoever wins the fight becomes the new leader. Sometimes that fight is civil, i.e. a free and fair election. The other end of the spectrum is when that fight is violent, and the winner takes control through physical force.
Strategically, the United States has been adept at analyzing the impact of potentially creating a power vacuum in other countries. I am convinced that is why we didn’t remove Saddam Hussein in 1991 but had absolutely no problem removing Manuel Noriega in 1989. As the United States military became more and more savvy about fighting terrorists at the lowest level, we became very aware that our actions and activities could create power vacuums, potentially destabilizing areas in which we operated, and even had the potential to set back any progress we had made.
While conducting operations that would potentially kill or capture even low-level terrorist leaders, we considered the repercussions of our actions and the potential waves it would create. It didn’t deter us from going after bad guys, it just made us better at anticipated what would happen in the aftermath.
No one really anticipated creating a power vacuum in our own country, but that is what happened just a couple of months ago.
When President Biden was forced out of the race for reelection, he quit governing. Don’t ever believe he dropped out voluntarily. Truthfully, he quit governing a long time ago, but most of the country at least believed he was in charge. After not conducting a cabinet meeting for a year, and spending most of his time asleep on the beach, we know he is no longer governing. As a result, no one is actively leading this country. We have created our own power vacuum.
I am not sure where on the spectrum we are in terms of filling that vacuum. We do have an election coming up, but with all the evidence of State Run Media (erroneously known as Mainstream Media) interfering, foreign interference like President Zelensky campaigning for Vice President Harris, and questionable voting standards in various states, I don’t know how “Free and Fair” the election will actually be.
I know we are not, contrary to what State Run Media is saying, even close to a violent overthrow or violent election interference. I am not saying that won’t happen somewhere down the line, depending on the outcome of this election, but I don’t believe we are there….yet.
So, that leaves us somewhere in the middle, and I honestly believe we are closer to the violent end than we are the free and fair election. And it isn’t because of either of the candidates. I know, so many people want to believe President Trump is going to become a dictator through election or overthrow. I don’t believe that for a second. I know, so many people want to believe that due to shitty economic policy under Vice President Harris we will be forced to fight against our own government to survive. I don’t believe that either, at least for now.
I do believe that the rest of the political machine that runs this nation will be the cause for violence. If there is more than cursory evidence this election was physically tampered with, or that the announced outcome is not what the votes say, I think we may reach a level of violence.
The question will be, in a true test of leadership, how each of the candidates reacts in that situation. If the election is tampered with, what does Vice President Harris do? What does President Trump do? What kind of leadership do they show? I have my guesses and I’m sure you do as well.
But, until November and even potentially until January, we will all have to wait and see how our country fills its self-created Power Vacuum.