” ‘...why haven’t you and your friends go and take that one down?...’ “ [Tench_Coxe, post 3]
“...after these leftist mobs topple the statues of Lincoln, Jefferson, etc., they will be after Mount Rushmore.” [SeekAndFind, post 6]
No monument is completely invulnerable, but Stone Mountain and Mount Rushmore are probably less vulnerable than many.
Neither is a fully three-dimensional, free-standing statue. Both were never fully chiseled from the rock they were made of. There aren’t a lot of projecting portions around which rioters could sling cables or chains to pull on.
The scale, too, would work against any attempts to do damage. Thousands of feet of cable or chain would be needed.
And the terrain nearby complicates any effort that might be envisioned: there aren’t many places nearby, where a would-be vandal could stand, to pull on cables or chains. Mount Rushmore sits in particularly rough terrain: the only flat spot for miles around is the parking lot. Films like North by Northwest get the landscape completely wrong.
One can imagine climbers attempting to sneak close to wield a hammer or plant explosives, but doing so would be arduous and risky. Today’s inner-city activists and rioters are less likely to own the skills and stamina; Mount Rushmore sits in terrain about 6000 feet above sea level and any approach would demand a level of thin-air conditioning and mountaineering prowess that today’s urban youths cannot begin to understand.
Attack by rockets or airplanes cannot be ruled out, but such threats are a little easier to guard against.
The best defense, of course, remains an armed populace. South Dakotans might be somewhat less scrappy than Georgians, but are no less resolute. Population in western SD (where Mount Rushmore is) is pretty thin by urban standards, but that means fewer urban sheep who might aid vandals and rioters.
I love your posts
Mount Rushmore has always seemed to me ironically or not
Surrounded by Indians
Sioux as I recall
The Black Hills are sacred to them...native activists don’t like the monument either
Not sure how much weight the Peltiers and Means of the Indian world ever held with the rank and file anyhow