Washington ? Is a military coup possible in the United States, even when it did not prove to be possible in Venezuela? Are we safe in assuming that America’s institutions, traditions and attachment to liberty are sufficiently strong to prevent such an occurrence?

The answer is that a flaw in the system does exist, and it is a flaw that puts us in jeopardy. That flaw is the all-volunteer armed forces.

The draft was placed on standby following the Vietnam War. Eighteen-year-old men must still register, but no call-up was employed even during the Gulf War, and no call-up is foreseeable except in the most extreme national emergency because it would be politically unpopular.

The result is that our armed forces no longer mirror the civilian community. The idea of a citizen soldier who serves his or her time and returns to civilian society is gone, though it was precisely that concept with its origins in colonial and Revolutionary War times that has kept America safe from a military coup.

A military-civilian breech began during the Vietnam War, when many young people mistreated returning veterans, blaming them for the war. The bitterness created by this treatment was significant and long-lasting. Then came the all-volunteer armed forces that only exacerbated the schism. Those who served looked upon those who did not as less than full citizens. They, the volunteer servicepeople, were the true patriots, the people placing their lives on the line for the country.

Because the anti-war movement found its primary home in the Democratic Party, the military establishment naturally gravitated toward the Republicans to such a degree that the standard line around Washington is that the Pentagon is a branch of the Republican Party.

Further, the military became more religious, a direction encouraged by an officer corps that recognized the bonding effect of patriotism, volunteerism, honor and religion. This created a very unified military, but also one that viewed itself as morally superior to the civilian populace, even though it recognized that it is not at the same educational level.

Historically, this has proven to be dangerous. It is what allowed Oliver Cromwell to order his New Model Army to oust Parliament following victory in the English Civil War. It is what ignited the Spanish Civil War and brought Francisco Franco to power. It is what has kept dictators in power and what has ousted them when the military switches its allegiance.

The fact that the military in America has never before been an independent power center has prevented its use for such internal political purposes. But that has all changed. Today’s military is truly separate from the civilian world. It is dedicated to the nation and to its command structure, and if the time ever comes when it is ordered to take lethal action against civilians, it will not have the same sense of constraint that a draft-based force would have had.

Even in Communist China during the Tianamen Square uprising, Chinese draftees refused to fire on the throng of student demonstrators, and a field army had to be called in to do the job.

The lesson is that liberty is civilian-based, not military-based. And an armed forces filled with civilians is the only way to ensure that liberty.