[Mack the knife]

The Constitution serves two purposes:
1) it sets up the structure of the government (legislative, judiciary, executive branches) with enumerated powers
2) it draws some bright lines that protect the citizen from the government (e.g., Congress shall make no law ...)

What the politicians don’t appear to understand is that the bright lines that protect us from them ... also protect them from us.

If they stay within the lines, we are obligated to follow their laws. If they step over a bright line (e.g., they decide to confiscate our arms), we have the right to abolish the government (e.g., refreshing the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants).

[Robert Teesdale]

They don't believe Americans would dare. You see, they believe that the collar fits, and we are accustomed to both the chafe and the limitation.

I vividly remember being five years old in 1776, standing at Concord Bridge and reading the inscription on the Minuteman statue there. I asked my father why they called it "the shot heard 'round the world?" Surely they didn't hear it in China.

My father gave me one of his serious looks (as a former Royal Horse Guards office, he had that down pat) and said simply, "Because they dared."

That bright line, as you note, is still there. I don't believe our people wear the collar as easily as the tyrants think.