Daniel Bryan

Dan: Is everyone going crazy down there now or what?

Jane: Not really. There are maybe a few hundred people who supported Zelaya protesting, but most of the people were proud of what happened.

Dan: The media here is basically saying this was a coup and your military has taken over the country. They’re equating it to the coups of the 60’s and 80’s.

Jane: All the military did was arrest him and fly him out of here. They did that to protect him. If they had not sent him away he could have been injured or tried to turn this into something more than essentially someone committing a crime being arrested and deported.

Dan: So is the military in charge?

Jane: No. Right after they arrested him, Parliament  impeached him and the next person in line was made President - and he’s from the same political party as Zelaya, so there wasn’t even a change in party, just the president who was acting against the constitution. There are soldiers guarding some places and a few people, but that is to keep them safe. There are some people who wanted Zelaya to be able to be President forever, but he can only run for 1 term. He wanted to throw out our constitution so he could essentially install himself as dictator for life. Anyone who is out there protesting FOR him are either his personal friends or hard-line socialists or hard-line communists - and that’s saying alot since our government is run by leftists already.

Dan: I read that the supreme court had told the military to arrest him. Is that true? How did this whole thing go down.

Jane: Yes and no. The Supreme Court basically said that what Zelaya was doing was unconstitutional. (Interjection: What was he doing?) He was trying to conduct a poll to throw out the constitution - of course he controlled those that would be counting the votes, so it was about as democratic as Iran’s recent election or Saddam Hussein’s elections of old. He’s not going to hold that poll unless he knows the outcome in advance. Trust me. Parliament knew what he was planning and so did pretty much everyone here.

The Supreme Court told Zelaya that he could not hold the poll because the constitution says you cannot hold such a poll six months before an election - for precisely this reason. So, the court told him ‘no’, the parliament told him ‘no’, but he was continuing on. Again, you don’t push this hard without knowing what the result was going to be. Personally, I think Chavez and maybe even Obama already knew what the result was going to be and that’s why they were letting it run it’s course - and probably why they’re saying this is against democracy, when in fact, it’s pro-democracy.

So Parliament knew that if the election were held then Zelaya would be able to point to this as the will of the people. There’s no way they could let it go on. They told him to stop what he was doing repeatedly, but he refused. So, he was arrested. The fact that Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama, and the world media is NOT telling the world that this man was throwing away our constitution, that he was overruled by the Supreme Court and by Congress, that’s what makes me think they knew what was coming in advance. They expected Zelaya to be dictator for life and they were okay with that. And now, that we’ve taken back our country, they’re upset?

Dan: Yeah, they’re essentially telling the world that your undermining democracy and the “rule of law” and you need to put him back in power or else!

Jane: If you’re President Obama came out and said that he could run for a third term and made all of the states put his name on the ballot would you be okay with that? If your supreme court and congress told him that he can’t do that, that he can’t run for a third term, but he presses harder sending the police in to make sure his name is on the ballot, would you do nothing? If he wins the election even though he’s not supposed to be on the ballot, what do you do then? He got the votes - seemingly - how can you not let him serve. It’s a nightmare scenario. So, you can’t allow him to be on the ballot for that third term. It’s unconstitutional and no matter how much he wants to change that or how many people want him to be President, he cannot run again - and doing so is an act of treason. It’s a crime.

That is what happened here. So our leaders and our supreme court told him to stop. He didn’t and they arrested him. They upheld the rule of law and protected our democracy from a would-be tyrant.

The fact that your President is telling us to return this man to power is very scary. Why does the greatest Democracy in the history of the planet want us to return to power a man who would take away our constitutional democracy? Is he planning on destroying your constitution and making himsef President for life?  If not, then he ought to be applauding what our leaders did this weekend. They acted to protect the rights of the people under the constitution and they did. The more he tells us to restore a would-be dictator, the more I would worry for yourselves.

Dan: I don’t think it could happen here. Even though the left is in power and they don’t want to lose their power, I don’t think they’ll destroy the constitution to do it. I’m sure there are some who would say it’s for the “greater good”, but there’s enough level-headed people on both sides to see that anyone in power for more than 8 years is not a good idea in a democracy. Personally, I wish there were term limits for congress too. There are people in there who have been there for 50 years. That’s not healthy for any democracy.

Jane:  That’s why our constitution only allows 1 term. It makes sure that no one can be in office long enough to set themselves up as a dictator. Over a period of 8 years, there’s enough time to take over the elections people, put your friends in the police and on the courts. Next thing you know you have a new face on currency and you’re being told what to do every day of your life. My father came from the USSR and he has told me stories of terrible conditions and being ruled with an iron fist. I’m so glad our people didn’t let that happen to us.

Dan: What do you think will happen? Will they cower to the pressure from Obama and the UN and the EU?

Jane: I don’t think so, because they know what they did was right - and not in a “we know what’s best for you” kind of way. They know it was right because the court said so, the legislature said so, and through the constitution, the people said so. I think it’s sad that your country is not praising this as the people’s representatives protecting them from a power mad guy who thought he was more powerful than the law.