What would it take for Americans to stand up and revolt?

[MessiahRp]

I just want to make clear I am not calling for overthrow of our government but I think it's an interesting question to pose.

What would make Americans finally stand up to and fight this government?

Stealing this election? Large increases in taxes? Continuous non-stop war? Fuel and Food Prices continue to skyrocket as supplies shorten? All civil rights suspended or terminated?

I ask because it seems that our current America is not made of the moral fiber of the one in the 18th century. Taxation without Representation was justification enough to revolt. It was morally repulsive to those people that they were not granted natural liberty and freedom by their rulers.

These days we take those rights for granted to the point that there is hardly a whimper when tyrants come in and take them away.

In the 1960s and early 70s we were willing to fight back to end an unjust war and bring our troops home. Nowadays people have proof in front of them that the war was for made up reasons, that Iraq will be unstable with or without us there and that it's actually hurting us in the fight against the enemies we claimed to be going after when this war began and we're unwilling to do anything about it.

Bill Maher said it best on Friday. Paraphrasing he said that 80% of the country believes we're on the wrong track, but 50% of the people would vote for McCain. It endorses even more wrong track.

Our country is so brainwashed by the 24 hour news cycle and corrupt corporate media that even compared to the 1960s and 1970s we are far more weak and pacified than ever before.

Sure there are patriots out there. Patriots that protest in the streets. Patriots that call or contact their congressmen and try to force change. Patriots that try to work for campaigns against the treasonous corporate incumbents or run themselves hoping to affect change.

But it's not enough. We're drowned out by the level of propaganda out there combined with the total apathy of the American people.

What has happened to us as a country that we are not willing to brawl in the streets over blatantly stolen elections or march to the White House demanding rescinding of The Patriot Act and restoration of Habeas Corpus?

What would it take to make all of America stand up and fight? Aside from an attack from some foreign enemy as it seems that is the only way we unite anymore.

“God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion… The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 1787

Thoughts?

Rp

[Donnachaidh]

1. Turn off their televisions and outlaw video games

Then you'll see some tonnage pulling themselves off their couches. :sarcasm:

[Lorien]

54. Actually, I think that's about the only way to do it.

Even if people are unemployed and hungry they won't make a fuss. The only time I ever saw people taking any kind of action together was after hurricanes wiped out the power to my city for two weeks. Most people where whining about not having TV. It IS the opium of the masses!

[Winterblues]

66. Hey...I resemble that remark..

:shrug:

[timtom]

70. OMG!

You beat me to it!

Great minds and all...

[Echo In Light]

75. Absolutely, precisely

[krabigirl]

91. That's exactly what I was going to say!

[Uben]

2. You wanna revolt?

Shut down the internet. That ought to do it!

[tridim]

25. That would definitely do it.

I think most people are addicted to the Internet. I know I am.

Shutting down the net would be much worse than burning every book in the world.

[RC]

33. No, they'd just watch more TV.

Our 'librl' news would give some half ass excuse and after a month or so, the noise would die down and everyone would go back to American Idol or Friends reruns.

[Jamastiene]

43. I wouldn't.

I would be plotting and scheming and trying to make a new internet, in the meantime.

[Jamastiene]

41. That, right by itself, would do it for me. n/t

[bdamomma]

79. exactly, but that will be many of us who will be on the streets.

do Americans have to hit the bottom first before they do anything against this regime we have, and do we really want to take down the rest of the world with us. No election will cure the problem, that is what our Reps and Senators are waiting for unfortunately.

[provis99]

3. we get too much bread and circuses these days. They'll never revolt

as long as we get Maury "Paternity Tests" Povich on tv, and a MacDonalds every five blocks, the American public doesn't give a shit what happens to the country.

[lib2DaBone]

78. $5 gas starting to get their attention

I have to agree. But $5 gas is starting to get their attention because it is curtailing their trips to soccer practice and Wal-Mart. (What a sophisticated, informed electorate we have)

[CK_John]

4. Cut off their cable. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

18. That's always been my theory

Either that or Internet access.

Take away the people's entertainment and propaganda and they start asking REAL questions.

[juajen]

5. Yeah, I would rebel if Hillary Clinton was cheated out of the nomination.

A lot of women would rebel in a lot of ways. We are sick and tired of being left on the floor to be walked over.

[movonne]

20. You will probably get as far as our anti-war marches...I probably

think you might be talking about FL and MI votes...you might get a few to revolt with you, but if you couldn't stop the election fraud when SC picked our president...

[digitalbuddha]

31. So in other words, you won't revolt

because to be cheated out of a nomination, you have to win it first and HRC has no chance.

[Marr]

45. Cheated?

I assume you're referring to the big Michigan/Florida thing, where the Clinton campaign would like to disenfranchise all those caucus states so she can steal the delegates in a state where her competition made the mistake of obeying the rules, and therefore wasn't on the ballot?

Yeah, as a cause for revolt... not so much.

[nebula]

6. Take American Idol off the air

you would see them storming the Bastille (or the WH) in no time.


Seriously, the draft would have to be implemented for them to wake up.

[htuttle]

7. It will happen the day that analog broadcast TV goes off the air

Sure, they've been warning us about it, but nobody really pays attention to that stuff. Who's got money for one of those fancy HDTV's anyway? And the goverment coupon for a converter box? Fill out a government form? Ya right...it doesn't give you enough to buy a box anyway.

So that first Sunday when there's no football on the TV -- when there's nothing but snow on the TV -- THEN the balloon will go up and Americans will go into the streets banging their pots and pans together and finally say YA BASTA!!!

But it will take the end of broadcast TV for that to happen.

Just you watch...

[Breeze54]

14. I'm taking the $80.00 to offset the cost of $160.00

Works for me!

[NoPasaran]

35. The television will be revolutionized!

[mmonk]

A free press but Clinton ended that in 1996 I think.

Now it's just our word against the government and the media about anything they have done.

[Perry Logan]

73. CLINTOPHOBE TURD ALERT!!!

This post is a "Clintophobe turd."

Clintophobes like to lower morale and increase divisiveness by dropping little cracks about the Clintons into otherwise unifying threads.

One thing's for certain: we'll never rise up and revolt if we're compulsively attacking one another at every turn.

Heaven forbid we should have even a moment of unity!

I think this proves who the "bad apples" are at DU.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. The rice troubles are the tip of the spear of what it will take

read Maslow and once they cannot get enough food.... that is exactly what it will take

And I mean a larger percentage of the population

Food riots were a reality in the 1930s, they're coming back

And count on the early ones NOT to make it to the news

[Jensen]

16. Ding, Ding, Ding...We have a winner!

[Demeter]

22. Food Is My Guess, Too

It's the one thing (besides water) you can't live without or make a substitution for.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. And they happened in the 30s here, in the US

they are coming back.

Hell, only problem is I'd have to tune to Mexican News to find out about it.

(Yes they covered fully the rice rationing last week)

[klyon]

99. let them drink beer

without beer people would go crazy and riot

[southern_belle]

9. All it would take would be to give Queen Hillary the

nomination that she seems to think she's entitled to. :mad:

[electron_blue]

10. more poisoned pet food and $5/gal gas

No revolution until their entitlements are threatened seriously.

[MessiahRp]

59. Poisoned Pet Food = Anger towards the Chinese, Gas Prices = Anger towards Iraq

Even if the anger is misplaced people here believe all of the blame shifting by the Pentagon and Administrations in power as if it was gospel.

And we're nearing $5/gallon already and while there is anger I don't see revolution in people's eyes about this. They confused people so much that most are willing to accept it, forgetting that it is not even about supply or demand, it's about the economic policies that have crushed the value of the American dollar that makes oil prices go up.

Rp

[frogcycle]

11. far too many Americans are revolting already

but all kidding aside, I think it is coming. just a matter of whether we'll go all the way to the Full Orwell, and how long that will take. I'm thinking four more years of mcbush will do it.

[nebula]

12. Americans are frogs in boiling water

They are being slowly boiled alive and don't even know it.

Or maybe they do but are afraid to really do anything about it.

[graycem]

13. All of the above.

In general, the people in this country don't give a damn about anything until it directly affects them. Selfish, spoiled Americans. The world view of us is 100% true.

[bdamomma]

80. but there are many of us who do give a damn about this country too.

sometimes I think it will just take one person to start the ball rolling, just like Rosa Parks.

[liberal N proud]

15. Take away their cable TV

[Hydra]

17. I'm tempted to think that NOTHING will do it this time

It's funny you're quoting Jefferson regarding Shay's Rebellion- In my mind, that even is the biggest proof that the American Revolution was about money, not freedom.

The nation simply cannot rise higher than it's roots- and it's roots are dark and rotten.

[Speck Tater]

19. When there's no more gasoline, and the electricity goes off.

It would only happen if something so drastic happened that nobody in their right mind could even imagine ever getting their comfortable status quo patented "American life style" back again.

In other words, they would have to lose a significant percentage of the very things they believe they are ENTITLED to, like gasoline, food, cable TV, electricity, running water, a roof over their heads, a decent pair of shoes, etc.

The loss of "abstract" things like privacy, the right to vote, etc., are just minor annoyances to the average person. Yes, there would be a lot of people expressing outrage, but not nearly enough to constitute a revolution. No until their "God-given" creature comforts start disappearing would they ever revolt.

[Mike K]

21. All Of The Above. . .

I'm afraid it will take all of the things you've mentioned, plus such things as totalitarian methods of law enforcement, disappearances, arbitrary seizures of private property, suppression of basic civil rights and more, all occurring over a sufficient period of time as to affect the majority of Americans, most of whom presently are brainwashed, alienated, politically ignorant, complacent, lazy and cowardly.

A society is analogous to a living organism in that the effects of uninterrupted comfort and abundance bring about gradual deterioration. The kind of energy and solidarity required to throw off the kind of oppression American society is about to experience requires a significant period of sustained discomfort, struggle and abuse. As it is we have only glimpsed the incipient stage of what is coming.

[Mike K]

23. All Of The Above

I'm afraid it will take all of the things you've mentioned, plus such things as totalitarian methods of law enforcement, disappearances, arbitrary seizures of private property, suppression of basic civil rights and more, all occurring over a sufficient period of time as to affect the majority of Americans, most of whom presently are brainwashed, alienated, politically ignorant, complacent, lazy and cowardly.

A society is analogous to a living organism in that the effects of uninterrupted comfort and abundance bring about gradual deterioration. The kind of energy and solidarity required to throw off the kind of oppression American society is about to experience requires a significant period of sustained discomfort, struggle and abuse. As it is we have only glimpsed the incipient stage of what is coming.

[FiveGoodMen]

26. Some goddamned TV preacher would have to tell them to.

[melody]

27. We are doing so -- in our own way

We're a different culture so we do things in different ways.

[sammythecat]

28. I think we have the problem of way too many ignorant voters, and

too many who don't even vote at all.

Too many are uninformed because they are too busy struggling to survive, or they lack the ability and/or the inclination to become informed.

Since we're living in the age of the "cult of personality" we need some kind of charasmatic leader who can inspire people to take charge of the government that has been usurped by the wealthy and powerful. We need some kind of modern day Spartacus to wake people the fuck up. We need a Dennis Kucinich that's six foot four, has the body of an Olympic champion, the wit and charm of a JFK, the voice of James Earl Jones, and the good looks of George Clooney. Dennis Kucinich never had a chance in hell of getting elected. No chance in hell. The message isn't nearly as important as the packaging.

Really, we've become so shallow that it's all about the packaging. If you can crack a joke and look the part, we'll follow you anywhere, be it heaven or hell.

[bdamomma]

81. so true and sad.

[ColbertWatcher]

29. It's going to take a continued injustice...

...throw in high unemployment, a lack of a tax base to pay for local services and corruption.

Then the police beat somebody up or shoot and kill an unarmed person.

Or, there is a fire and a family dies.

Or, another bridge falls and lots of people die.

But that won't be the catalyst.

The catalyst won't be a mall shooting where the police come in and save the day, and it won't happen just yet.

Let all that simmer during a long, hot summer first.

Cut off the water, keep gas prices where they are, maybe even raise them. Close another plant, send more people to homes they cannot afford.

To get people up in arms, just ignore their real problems.

Then say something stupid about the police brutality or the fire that killed the family or all the people who died when the bridge fell on them.

And just when the media start to leave, something else will happen. Something small, but it's the last straw and the summer has been so very, very hot already. This thing that happened will be unbearable in this heat. Maybe there will be a march or protest, but they've been happening all summer since the shooting or the fire or the bridge collapse. The authorities are getting bored or tired of hearing the same things over and over from these people. Okay, okay, we know about the shooting or the fire and the bridge, but come on, they'll say. It's time for vacation they'll say. We will take care of this when we get back, we promise.

That will be your catalyst.

Ignore the people and diminish their real concerns, while they continue to suffer some new hell.

But, you've got to have the hot summer first.

Then you'll see people in the streets.

[King Coal]

30. Excellent question.

[WilliamPitt]

32. Three missed meals

I do not know who first said these words, nor what the original wording was, but this is the thrust of it:

America, or indeed any well-fed and comfortable society, is three missed meals away from anarchy and revolution.

Thoughts?

[sammythecat]

34. There's too much truth to that, unfortunately.

The citizenry have become so acquiescent, for a variety of reasons, that is will probably take a catastrophe to wake them up to what's happening. It seems it always takes a calamity to get people out of their chairs.

As long as we have enough bread and circuses, we'll put up with anything.

[MessiahRp]

36. Does three regular meals even apply in this era of bulimia, crash dieting or anorexia?

We're way too vain a society to eat three meals if our looks depend on it now.

Personally I'm not sure any one item will do the trick, maybe a large quantity combination of events will do the trick but even then I'm not so sure there is anything stronger than the American will of apathy.

Rp

[HughMoran]

37. $10/gallon?

10% unemployment?

[bemildred]

38. $10 a gallon gas might do it. Or food shortages. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Food shortages and the leading edge of them is already here

with RICE, which has gone over 100% in the least four months

The wonders one learns when one reads REAL news

Did I mention Rice is now being rationed by two major chains in the US? Ah the wonders of what one learns
about the US when visiting another country where they do cover... news

[bemildred]

44. I'm not saying we aren't working on it.

I have no doubt we'll see $10 gas too, the question is how soon. I mean, I personally remember $.18 a gallon gas, so the trend is clear.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. Sooner than later... the crisis is here

oh wait, didn't britney .... what passes for news round these parts is designed to keep the proles down

:-(

[bemildred]

50. I did read that Britney got her figure back.

And did you hear about those Hannah Montana pictures on the web? I swear, you just don't know what this world is coming to!

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. Don't forget the Wright controversy

and of course SHARKS... they're BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK (though I am sure the relatives of the surfer killed in Solana Beach didn't think it was a joke)

You know readying The UN Food Fund report on rice made me go... this IS news... not that junk

And the rice crisis has spread, why I am so annoyed

[Jamastiene]

40. If they took our "sin tax" items away:

Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, candy, gas, condoms, porn, and other such delicacies away, and we'd be FIGHTIN' mad. I know I would be. :evilgrin:

[shanti]

42. if society as a whole ground to a halt

THAT would do it, imo.

[TroglodyteScholar]

46. Revolution will only occur with widespread hunger...

...and from the looks of things, that could be around the corner.

[bdamomma]

82. food shortages could spark the fire.

[windbreeze]

47. $5.00 a gallon gas.....and the hunger that goes with it, from not being able to

get to work to earn the paycheck to pay for it....wb

[MessiahRp]

58. We're actually closing in on $5/gallon

I said two years ago that I didn't believe the Bush Administration would leave power without gas being over $5/gallon because it would be very difficult at that stage to bring prices back to reasonable levels and he and his corporate friends would have reaped incredible windfall profits.

Still we're over $4/gallon in many places and while people are upset about it, I don't see revolution in their eyes.

Rp

[windbreeze]

69. doesn't it make you wonder....what WILL it take for people to

stand up and say enough?? It sure does me...and yes, gas is high where I live too...$3.85 a gallon for reg...over $4.00 for premium...let's face it...* and his cronies have literally bankrupted this country in every way, shape and form in the last 8 years...and they just keep on, keeping on...wb

[bdamomma]

83. and they will keep on pushing and pushing until somebody or

alot of somebodies push them back. We can show our aggression, if we get our act together and stop being so passive and helpless.

[Swamp Rat]

49. The cancellation of American Idol and super-sized Happy Meals.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. Reinstate the draft.

Thousands of young men were drafted and sent to die in Vietnam during the late '60s and early '70s. When your very own personal ass is on the line, you're more inclined to raise a fuss.

[Horse with no Name]

53. If they shut the cable off

and discontinued making recliners and Beer.

[Jamastiene]

57. GASP!!!

Recliners? No more recliners? Where's my pitchfork? They done took the wrong thing away from me. :evilgrin:

[NuttyFluffers]

55. it would take being too late for that ounce of prevention

and that pound of cure will cost everything else we value.

[Hekate]

56. The draft. A real one, with daughters included. That would pretty much do it....

... given the state of opinion about this war.

People are not nearly as stupid as George Bush and his Neocon pals (and some DUers) think. They can be lied to and misled for only so long before the light dawns.

Hekate

[slackmaster]

60. Try to take away our guns

Or black out the next Super Bowl football game.

[cynatnite]

61. Revolt? How?

Brawl in the streets? Against who?

We've all felt that anger from time to time when it comes to our government and how it circumvents the will of the people in favor of those who controll it.

Nothing new there.

But when I read something like this...

it does sound exactly like overthrowing the government is what you want.

We have elections and on occasion they do work even though we don't always get the results we want. I'll do my fighting in the voting booth, LTTE, phone calls and protests if I can get away to attend one.

[MessiahRp]

65. So when your vote is worthless because of stolen elections

your LTTE not published or ignored, your phone calls directed to people who don't care or don't listen and your protests marginalized so that they are meaningless, then what?

This is sort of what I mean, especially when you made mention of "if I can get away to attend one".

A real revolution would not occur after work hours. I am not calling for an overthrow of the government but it does pose an interesting study to ask whether or not Americans have the will or the stomach to truly stand up to corruption and tyranny. By your response I would take that as a no.

Those currently in charge have marginalized or even eliminated the reasonable first steps of dissent. They have made comments that protests are nothing more than a "focus group". That polls against them are to be ignored. They have hired low level workers to take the brunt of the phone calls and letters and the media is in their pocket enough to water down dissent sent in by angry readers, listeners or watchers.

The elections as the past two Presidential races have shown, can and are easily stolen.

The question then shifts to "Then What?".

And that's what I choose to ask here. To gauge the will of the angriest, most frustrated and quite frankly most affected of those by such tyranny.

It's a fair question to ask although it seems by your response not only do you not have the stomach for such rebellion you also get agitated at the mere mention of it even if it is only to poll for thoughts on the topic.

It's fine since I was not looking to create revolution but merely gauge it and the gauge does work both ways.

Rp

[cynatnite]

86. "If I can get away to attend one" means...

I have kids and a job which means I can't always get away to attend a protest. Last I checked...that inability wasn't a litmus test on how much we want to change the country for the better.

I'm a cynical person, but not to the point of allowing it to make me impotent as it seems to do for those folks who sit at a keyboard crying out for violent protests.

No, I don't have the stomach for violence at all. I've seen the result of violence more times than I care to remember and given the fact that MLK, Ghandi and others believe in peaceful protest it's far more preferable. Once you're attempting to put bodies back together you may see violence differently.

Just because you think that people taking to the streets and revolting (which you never said how or against who) doesn't mean it's the best way to end what's happening in this country. In fact, violence is the last thing this world needs. We have too much as it is and adding more to it serves no purpose...especially in this country. We still have a voice in this country and we're free to use it. Just as those who oppose us are free to do so as well.

I have to admit...reading posts calling for violent revolution is always entertaining.

[MessiahRp]

88. I suppose as amusing and useless as the Revolution that founded this country

By your standards of what constitutes a successful revolution we would have all protested until we were blue in the face but stayed abject to the Crown and England to this day.

I don't think you understand the concept here. I am not talking about some protests over racial harmony and civil rights or even those that were anti-war. They were far more limited in scope. I'm talking about what would make Americans stand up as they did in 1775 to fight against the government in control. To take up arms in a unified manner against a tyrannical government that means to oppress their rights and voices.

Obviously that is a far different question and requires a far different type of response than simply fighting for a war to end or even to fight for the rights of a singular group.

I am asking what it would take for the American people to feel motivated enough to revolt in the way that the original revolution occured.

There was once a time when the Independent spirit of America might have seen such feelings be prevalent in all of us but you can make a serious case that the pacification of Americans through propaganda and the media have all but estinguished this flame.

Thus I ask to see what people believe would be the trigger to reignite it because I believe it's a nearly impossible task and everybody seems to have a different answer for how it would occur.

Rp

[cynatnite]

89. So, you're comparing today to the early years of the US?

:rofl:

Okay, if you somehow think the two are remotely alike. It's hilarious, but go right ahead.

They are two completely different circumstances in two completely different times involving completely different people...but still...go ahead and treat them as if they are alike.

No matter how much you want to apply the same tactics to today's circumstances it doesn't change the fact that today is not 1776 and we're not under the oppression of a king.

If you want people to stand up and fight (which I have no idea who they'd fight) and give the government back to the people...then our democracy would have to be gone. Our right to vote would be gone, our free speech, free religion and so on. Of course, I'm sure you'll argue that they are gone...in a sense, but they're not...not really.

They'd have to cancel elections, take control of the newspapers and television, and so on. Now, that...perhaps might incite violence.

It hasn't happened and more than likely won't.

[MessiahRp]

93. Wait they don't have control of newspapers and television now?

The Pentagon just got called out for putting propagandists on the air, FOX NEWS is practically pravda and the rest of the corporate media is shifted well to the right of common sense.

Bush has suspended Habeaus Corpus and The Patriot Act pretty much eliminates all that freedom you think exists. Elections are rigged so the American electorate has no say. The Vice President has declared his office above the law.

Yes this era is so different and so unworthy of such rebellious thought.

You have obviously been successfully pacified. Please continue to be happy that you chose the Blue Pill.

Rp

[cynatnite]

97. They do not have control of the media...

Corporations control most of those and it's those interests which are put first. It happens that much of their interests coincide with the government.

If the government had control of the media then we would never have heard about Abu Ghraib and other scandals.

You act like the United States is North Korea...which it is not.

Yes, the government exerts as much forces as it can and it flaunts the rule of law which does threaten our democracy. How everything plays out in the future...we don't know.

The fact remains we do have a free press...mostly controlled by corporations, but it exists nonetheless.

Some elections are rigged...not all. If they ALL were, then the dems winning both the house and the senate would NOT have happened in 2006.

I'm not operating in delusional land thinking that I live in the Soviet era or that this is a movie called 'The Matrix'.

If you do believe we live in 'V for Vendetta' world then there is no convincing you that the government doesn't control the thousands of radio TV stations all across the country. They don't force their will on the thousands of newspapers and magazines as well. There is no convincing you that in order for the government to exert it's will over the millions of Americans it would require the military to physically enforce martial law and if you honestly believe that...well, then I don't know what to tell you. It would be physically impossible to pull off.

I live and work in the real world. Despite the fact that a lot of shit is pretty damn screwed up...it doesn't mean that this is 1933 and all dissenters are getting hauled off to camps.

All that crap has been thrown around for years and guess what...martial law hasn't happened, people can protest bush and his minions, and we can using the power of the vote to get folks out of office who don't perform as we wish.

If you want to allow your delusions to make you impotent...go right ahead. I won't stop you.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

62. One reason that you see more street protests in Europe is

that they still have real community institutions.

[bdamomma]

85. or maybe Europeans do not put their leaders on pedestals

like we do.

[madmusic]

63. The Left and Right loves being on their knees and servicing Uncle Sam

Everyone has their own pet project that gets Uncle Sam hard and excited.

Check out the FLDS threads.

Check out http://www.constitution.org/ad_state/roberts.htm">How the Law was Lost, or for the book version, http://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Good-Intentions-Prosecutors-Constitution/dp/076152553X">The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

There will be no revolution, not even a political one, as long as it is so respectable to kiss Uncle Sam's ass.

[ThomWV]

64. The lives of our sons and daughters will have to be at risk. Today they are not.

The ones who serve are invisible, the pain is not shared by us all. As long as that's the case we will not rise up against this war.

[ensho]

67. a shortage of beer and liquor

nt

[guardian]

68. taking away TV/sitcoms would probably do it for the sheeple

[deutsey]

71. Make all TV programming educational and public affairs oriented n/t.

[cynatnite]

87. So you support censorship of entertaining programs? n/t

[Blarch]

72. Never happen.

most DUers who have republican family members and freinds have already made the choice to support the very people shredding the constitution...instead of protecting the constitution.

[datasuspect]

74. this is what it took for the colonists to stand up to the Crown

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

[Perry Logan]

76. A few more years of Republican rule.

[KillCapitalism]

77. 50+% unemployment.

With the way we're sending jobs overseas, I expect to see this soon.

[otherlander]

84. When I was about twelve

I would have loved to see revolts. Barricades in the streets? Molotov cocktails? AWESOME! Then I got older and began to realize that violence really, really sucks. Often, revolts fail, and you wind up with nothing but blood in the streets and darkness compounded upon darkness. Sometimes they succeed, one government gets overthrown, and the one that takes its place winds up being even worse. But still I think that people who fight in these revolts, even if they end in guillotines or Stalinist gulags, really were just trying for a more livable world and got fooled by some corrupt leaders. Even without corrupt leaders, mob mentality can still turn an uprising into a reign of terror. Sometimes violence is necessary, yes. When there are no democratic means to make change with, and the powers that be are murdering those who try for peaceful change, then violence becomes necessary. But it's not glorious, it's just tragic necessity. Why would you want revolt when we still have peaceful means open to us? We still have democratic means, we still have the ability to speak our minds without being shot for it. Don't throw that away!

[cayuga]

90. First: Get rid of Pelosi and Reid

How did they get in power in the first place? Put people in power who reflect the will of the people and who don't think * is a 'lovely man'.

IMPREACH PELOSI. GET RID OF REID. That's a start.

[Cleita]

92. How about another Boston Tea Party, but instead of tea

we can through Hummers into the harbor to make a statement.

[MessiahRp]

94. Although that's an interesting idea it sure would be unfair to Earth

to protest in a way that only pollutes her oceans with huge trash cans that parade as vehicles.

Rp

[Cleita]

95. Not necessarily. Scuttled junk forms reefs that provides

habitat for marine life. Scientists have been doing it to regenerate sea life where it has been overfished. However, I was really being sarcastic. But I do believe some visceral protests of this hit and run type would get the entitled asshats' attention that the unwashed masses are close to getting ready to revolt.

[WinkyDink]

96. Nothing. We, and I include myself, are simply not willing to risk life and liberty in the streets.

Period.

[cayuga]

98. It's gotten to the point that I WOULD risk that...

If it meant a better life for my children and grandchildren.

[Greyhound]

100. So it is better to live on your knees than to die on your feet? n/t

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

101. The Americans are ALREADY revolting.

Just ask any Iraqi, Iranian, Turk, Canadian, Frenchman, Italian, German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, African...

:evilgrin: