a word I have heard unsolicited from a wide range of people: REVOLUTION [View All]

[yurbud]

I have been following national and state politics extremely closely since 9/11, and some of my friends think I'm nuts when I talk about stuff the Bushies are doing or going to do (like when the Iran War plans were leaked last summer), but I keep getting surprised when I hear this word, REVOLUTION from people who don't follow politics closely or actively don't give a shit.

Last night, I was talking to a student about how Bush's plan for the next war might lead to a draft. He said he'd move to Canada. When I told him the government has an extradition treaty for that with Canada these days, he looked despondent.

I said, 'funny thing is, if you won't go when there's a draft, I don't think a lot of kids your age will.'

He said, 'Yeah, there will be a revolution or something,' not as a joke, ironically or as a way of dismissing the conversation.

The weird thing is, when I talk to some people quite a bit older than me (like people who can remember the Depression and World War II), particularly about the Democrats half-hearted resistance and often complicity with the Bushies, they say the same thing unsolicited.

It is not my hope or something I'm advocating. I would prefer to fix the system so it's harder for corrupt, fascist-tending kleptocrats of either party to get into power.

But that said, those of us who have been waiting for the public to turn on the Bushies might get it all at once, when a line is crossed and the public snaps, and inaction seems more dangerous than active opposition. That might happen after the next 'terrorist' attack to rally support for the Iran War, or start the draft, or declare martial law, or when the Bushies use the first nuke on an enemy since World War II. Maybe it won't be until Russia or China drop a nuke on us, but the change will come in the blink of an eye, and those apathetic couch potatoes we have tried to motivate to action will suddenly surge past us like a wave of out of control soccer hooligans.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had people use the R word when talking about politics other than known anarchist or communists (for them it's like saying hello).