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I think the biggest hurdle is that the first time we had a rebellion, the "bad guys" were across an ocean, far away, in England. Now they're sharing the same space as we are. We can't just say "stop coming over here, nyah nyah nyah" any more, because they're already here.
The other hurdle is: the government has all the guns. They are used to stealing money from us at the point of a gun. If you don't believe me, try not paying your taxes. I'm certainly not happy about the thousands of dollars I would have in my bank right now if the federal government hadn't taken it because I was "making too much money."
Back in the day, most Americans were fence-sitters for the revolution anyway, until things got crazy and they had to choose a side. Now there's so many more people, and the government is everywhere. It would probably be impossible to orchestrate any sort of uprising unless we could get the military to help us. As for meeting about the constitution... well, if I could amend the constitution, I'd kill that stupid income tax amendment, slap term limits on congressmen, and probably try to get a line-item veto in there (state governors have it, and it stops all those stupid riders on bills).
But I still truly believe that all anybody actually wants from their government is to be left alone. I just want the government to stop fucking with us, and stop trying to tell me what to think and believe and what's morally right and taking my money for absolutely no good reason and just leave me the fuck alone.
if I'm the only one doing it, what difference is it going to make?
what do I do when bush, and the media inevitably label me a terrorist, or a cooky religious nut, and ship me off to a concentration camp(let's not mince words here)
Even if I succeed, how can I guaruntee that what I put in it's place will be better than the current system? How could I ensure it doesn't immediately devolve to that system?
You and TRI are the crazy mad ones.~Cope
Give a man a fire, keep him warm for a day; set a man on fire, keep him warm for life.~unknown
yeahduff wrote:I can guarantee you the government won't kill you for not paying your taxes.
If you don't pay your taxes, and they catch you, first they'll try to make you pay.
If you can't or refuse, they'll send you to jail.
If you refuse to go to jail, the cops will come to your house, handcuff you, stuff you in the back of a police car, and take you there.
They will get away with doing this because if you don't come with them or try to resist, they will hit you, gas you, or shoot you.
Just because you aren't dead doesn't mean they're not using the threat of death and physical violence to make you do what they say.
Still a large leap from "you'll be incarcerated" to "they'll kill you." Your life is only in danger if you resist with deadly force. But I get it: you're being dramatic.
But more to the point, it's not robbery because most of us understand that we have to pay into society to make it run. And if you don't like to pay taxes, there are other places you can go.
mcDuffies wrote:There's so many things I could say that I'll rather say nothing.
Actually, I hope you don't think it rude of me, but I'd love to hear a bit about what happened in your part of the world. I know the outcome, but I don't think I ever really heard the cause.
I don't mind, but it's an awfully long story and I'm not sure if anyone else is interested in listening so I wouldn't wanna hijack the thread. But I have no problem talking about that stuff.
theSuburbanLetdown wrote:I'm not playing your game.
Then don't claim everything is free in hell.
Technically, everything is free in Hell, just you have to use these things called Satanbucks instead of real money.
Edit: For on-topic, I've thought about this and it's a fun thing to conceptualize (you know, standing up for your rights and fighting back against the bad guys sorta thing) but despite the myriad of problems I'm aware of I don't really think things are bad enough in this country to incite revolt. I mean, things are definitely getting worse, and America is probably gonna turn into a hellhole in the near future, but Americans are lazy and complacent and there's just nothing going to happen until it's too late and there's not really any choice left. Personally, I think I'll probably be in Canada before that happens.
"Seems like the only comics that would be good to this person are super action crazy lines, mega poses!"
yeahduff wrote:I can guarantee you the government won't kill you for not paying your taxes.
If you don't pay your taxes, and they catch you, first they'll try to make you pay.
If you can't or refuse, they'll send you to jail.
If you refuse to go to jail, the cops will come to your house, handcuff you, stuff you in the back of a police car, and take you there.
They will get away with doing this because if you don't come with them or try to resist, they will hit you, gas you, or shoot you.
Just because you aren't dead doesn't mean they're not using the threat of death and physical violence to make you do what they say.
Still a large leap from "you'll be incarcerated" to "they'll kill you." Your life is only in danger if you resist with deadly force. But I get it: you're being dramatic.
But more to the point, it's not robbery because most of us understand that we have to pay into society to make it run. And if you don't like to pay taxes, there are other places you can go.
What about Shay's Rebellion?
(As an aside, I love hearing about how badass our old government officials were--I mean, President Washington marching out there himself to lay down the law? President Jackson pistol dueling? Senator Calhoun breaking out his cane on people? So awesome.)
I think the media problem isn't American Idol/The Hiltons/whatever. I think what it really is, is wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage, whatever. I'm not saying that they aren't worth talking about (I mean, I've certainly formed strong opinions on these issues myself), but I think that people put way more importance on these issues than they should. I remember, during the last presidential election, a girl I knew actually made her decision based *solely* on the candidates's stances on abortion. What about The War (and foreign policy in general)? Or, The Economy? Or, things that will actually effect most of us, in the short term? Hell, State's rights even. I guess my point is that they use these issues to distract us so that we don't make holistic decisions. Does that make sense? I hope so.
As far as actual /rebellion/, I don't think we need that. As broken as the system is, I think it's still repairable.
I do not worry about rebellion. I worry about the system breaking. It seems that for the most part all that happens is a system wherein the rich get richer, the poor get screwed, and no one cares that a bunch of CEOs are robbing their employees and basically running everything that the government doesn't control (and even some of what it does control) because we're being manipulated and programmed by the media which acts as a wonderful subversive.
I go to 1984, the Orwellian society where the proles are oppressed and controlled by the government through media manipulation. Almost the same thing happens today except the control lies in the hands of the corporate CEOs who are buddy buddy with the people in the government. We're told what to watch, how to think, and how to behave. A glance at American society and all the Paris Hilton clones, the gangster rap wannabes, and such creates an atmosphere abhorent to self education. We're told to just be rich spoiled princesses wherein whatever we want we should have and the rules don't apply to us (sound familiar with respect to unspoken national policy) or that we need to "be real, keep it on the streets, be thug" and forget all that school bullshit because a real rapper doesn't need to listen to the Man. Courtesy of MTV and VH1. Then when you've got all that money, spend spend spend it and flaunt flaunt flaunt to show who's got the most.
Now that everyone is a nice punk thug or a pretty little daddy's girl, we see how rule of law is eroded by a new class that is idolized and made to be "better" than the rest of us. Paris drove without a license? But she's too pretty to go to jail! Lindsay was underage and using alcohol AND cocaine? She just needs rehab (for the third time, is it?) because really she's got a good heart! Meanwhile, the rest of the system has been broken through inherently racist policies that target the poor and minorities and punish with overtly harsh and inevitably useless jail sentences in attempts to "get tough" on crime. Hypocrisy is a beautiful thing, especially when it benefits the same class of society that was mentioned before, rich white and powerful.
So now we've brainwashed society and destroyed the rule of law. Time to seize power and burn the Constitution. Politicians have always been corrupt. Those least suited to rule inevitably do so while those best suited stand on the sidelines and do nothing. Let's also not forget that the goal, the unspoken goal, of any political party is a legal overthrow of the government. That's the name of the game, win enough supporters that you can do whatever you want and change the game to play by your rules. As long as there's a nice 50/50 split and it never gets too out of whack in the balance of power then we're hunky dory. Except that for 6 years the government had a Republican President with the most neoconservative agenda ever, hellbent on reshaping the world for his vision of democracy; a Republican Congress willing to pass any law the President wanted and approve any actions he wanted in his goal; a Republican leaning Supreme Court capable of denying any legal challenges brought by individuals against the government and insuring that even if it was unconstitutional it still made it through the system.
I have taken an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and every day, every single waking day, I fear for what lies around the corner and if I will have to take that oath at its word. Rebellion? I'm not worried about the people rising up and me having to take to the streets and pick sides on whether to overthrow the devil I know and risk the devil I don't, and every thing that goes with that decision. I'm worried that I will have to be the guy who starts the rebellion and goes "Enough is enough, I am duty bound to overthrow this government". The problem is, when does enough become enough?
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