How does that happen? No matter how rich you are, even if you're Trump, you don't have a private police force on motorcycles. I don't get it.
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
Sure you can. You can hire as many "security guards " as you want to. If you have enough, that's a police force.
shareIt's one thing to have security guards. These guys seemed like much more than that - as if they had the power to arrest you.
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
Trump has one; not in uniform but they are his "secret police".
shareRemember that what Norton and the other bigwigs were attempting was a fascist takeover of the government. Just like the Nazis with their private Brown Shirts and SS, Norton had his own private para-military force. It was years after I had first seen MJD that I learned this aspect of the film was based on an alleged plot in the 1930s to overthrow or negate FDR and bring fascist government to the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
The same basic idea was used in the 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.
Wow, interesting stuff. The article vacillates between calling this true and calling it BS, and I'm not sure where I'm left after reading it.
But was this widely known at the time? Would the audience have watched Meet John Doe and shook their heads and said, "Ah, this is that Business Plot from a few years back. So this is how it would have worked."
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
I just skimmed through the article to which you and the other poster referred. It reads to me as though there was evidence that a plot was discussed, but there was no evidence that it ever proceeded beyond discussion and possibly week experimentation. Whether this was because they rejected the idea or because they made some attempts at spreading influence that did not meet their needs, HUAC found no evidence to pursue.
Frank Capra may well have known about the investigation and may have been inspired by it. However, that would not be necessary. Frank Capra was a story teller. He said in an interview that his first priority was always to entertain the audience. Any good story teller knows that you need a good villain and there were plenty of inspirational sources for the villain in MJD: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, etc.
As for private uniformed security forces, Ford Motor Company had one, US Steel had one, and I am sure that several other corporations have had them. Besides physical security of the plant(s), they were often used for strike breaking during the days when unions fought for existence and power. It would be easy enough for a majority share holder to have a portion of this manpower available for 'other purposes.'
The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.
Business plot - recruit half a million veterans to overthrow the government.A case of wishful thinking on some parts and Butler being either gullible or a publicity- seeker.
shareIn those days (and maybe still) if you had enough cash you could hire a private law enforcement organization like Pinkerton to do your bidding. It's not much of a stretch to extend that to Norton employing and maintaining his own.
___
I used to think I knew everything about the world. Now I just know that it's round.