[EXCH54FE]

I suggest there has been no revolution because Obama and his lieutenants have been able to disguise his lack of belief in the legitimacy of the system as patriotism. It’s as if he were able to say, “Let’s destroy the health care system, let’s bankrupt the economy, let’s compromise the security of our borders, and let’s confiscate guns. It’s the American way.”

[mnehring]

[redpoll]

I think the answer is more prosaic than this article states.

We had a revolution once. The southern states decided to take state soveriegnty to its ultimate level and broke off to form their own nation. The consequence was the most bloody war in American history. It took the South a century to recover.

There’s a dim memory of that conflict in the American understanding of revolution. A similar war with modern weapons would be horrific, and both sides know it - even the leftists, who crave violence and whose supporters have talked glibly about killing 25 million Americans in order to cement their rule.

So we dance around the issues, moving up to actual conflict with actually crossing the line.

The best scenario I can see is that the left tries some kind of burning of the Reichstag moment - which, if history serves correctly, will be an actual event like 9/11 conflated by the left for their own purposes, not a set-up like in Germany or a coup like in Russia. They’ll go overboard, and the entire country will go Galt on them, including many in the Washington infrastructure, leaving Obama and the high-level bureaucrats screaming orders that are ignored. Eventually someone steps in - the military, the states collectively, an administration official willing to take the chance - and announces that the republic has just missed the bullet, and we need to arrest the guilty and gather together to rebuild. That’s the best scenario.

On the other end of the spectrum, one or both sides will have nuclear weapons and no restrictions on their use; Sherman’s March to the Sea, with an army of drones and chemical weapons, carving a path from New York to LA. It would take more than a century to recover from that; it would be our own version of the Pelopenesian Wars.

God help us.

[RIghtwardHo]

THere has never been a revolution and there will never be one because American’s do NOT care. Add in the changing demographics and the rush Left and we are just never going to have one. Glad I’m old.

[IronJack]

those with access to the levers of power within the ruling order cease to believe in the religion or ideology that legitimizes the regime

Does anyone truly believe that the current administration in Washington -- not just Obamateur but Pelosi, Reid, et. al., including a number of hack RINOs -- is legitimate? Does anyone believe that legion of inepticons is worthy of our respect and obedience? Do their values match our own, and in the rare case where they do, do they have the courage to defy fashion and stand for those values?

[Kirkwood]

As bad as things are, a period of revolution would be much worse. Plus it is hard to determine if anything good will come after a revolution. I just don’t see anyone wanting something worse than what they have now.

[x]

You do not defend a world that is already lost. When was it lost? That you cannot say precisely. It is a point for the revolutionary historian to ponder. We know only that it was surrendered peacefully, without a struggle, almost unawares. There was no day, no hour, no celebration of the event — and yet definitely, the ultimate power of initiative did pass from the hands of private enterprise to government. -- Garet Garett

[x]

If you aren't a self-sufficient farmer or hunter or herdsman or backwoodsman you are probably already too tied into the system to protest changes.

If you are a self-sufficient farmer or hunter or herdsperson or backwoodsperson you are probably poor and want to get your piece of the government pie.

I think you probably ought to distinguish between getting entangled in a growing bureaucratic machinery and getting thrown into internment camps, though, and between things that may weaken the country and actual intent to destroy it.

[Hardastarboard]

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I always go back to the words of some of the most politically astute men in history.

[Earthdweller]

I know people who would let the government come into their home and take their last piece of furniture and would pay most of their income in tax as long as they have beer and TV.

The same people who never ever question taking their children to the baby-sitter/indoctrination dumb-down camp we call public school, the same public propaganda camp that they attended year after year, in which they never learned a thing about our history, let alone what is happening now.

And this is just the poor working class...it does not include the 50% who are totally dependent on a government check.

MOST DO NOT KNOW or DO NOT CARE that there is a problem! That is why there is no revolution.

[ScottinVA]

Because enough Americans will accept restrictions on their liberties so long as those restrictions come along slowly enough for them to delude themselves into thinking things will be fine if they simply adjust a little. Remember when 60+%. opposed Obamacare? Latest polls show fewer than 50% are in opposition now... even as the horror stories about it unfold. For those awaiting some kind of “we’re fed up and we’re not taking it anymore” outburst, don’t hold your breath.

[montanajoe]

Because there is no public support for a revolution..simple as that.

At least 80% of the population depends on things staying the way they are for their job, their retirement, their security.

While many here see the government encroaching on their rights almost daily, for most of the population this is not a concern.

[Hot Tabasco]

I suggest there has been no revolution

There have been an increasing number of incidents where firearms owners rights are obviously being violated. Incidents such as those were supposted to be vindicated by all the chest thumping preppers but they're no where to be found.

My guess is that they're busy with their kid's basketball game or working overtime to pay for their new truck........You know, priorities.......

[Nita Nupress]

American Idol, DWTS, Walking Dead, a refrigerator full of cold brew, and March Madness.

Back in the day, Clinton got freeped quite a few times and I’m proud to have participated. This is different. This is playing for keeps, not standing on a curb with a protest sign screaming at the pResident to “pull up your damn trousers and, oh yeah, stop giving our secrets to China while you’re at it.”

We’re all 15 yrs older. Some if us must pass the torch. I have much more confidence in Southern Bubbas than i do with others, but we shall see. And Texas Bubba is still mad about Goliad and what the Alamo represented, so factor that in the equation. When/If the younger generation decides they’ve had enough, i expect there will be quite a few dead DHS/whatever people lying around on the ground with unspent magazines loaded with those hollow points next to them. Honestly, they have no clue of what they’ll be up against down here and out in the heartland. Not. A. Friggin. Clue.

[Nita Nupress]

And by the way, welcome to the Free Republic. ‘Free,’ as in Freedom.

[AZLiberty]

I suggest there has been no revolution because Obama and his lieutenants have been able to disguise his lack of belief in the legitimacy of the system as patriotism.

It seems he put one over on the Israelis this week, as well, convincing them that he is on their side. To be precise, he said that America is on their side -- which is true. I'm not sure he said anything about himself being on their side.