Would American's be brave enough to have a non-violent revolution?

[randr]

I remember the civil rights marches and all the anti-war demonstrations. Could a demonstration against our own government escalate in a non violent manner or would it just get out of hand these days?

[gateley]

1. I've been thinking about that during this amazing Egyptian uprising. I think our

country is too divided, it's hard for me to imagine coming together with the hate-filled, racist, frightened sector of our society.

What do you think?

[OneGrassRoot]

4. And the guns...

Americans are armed to the teeth, more so than other nations. That aspect of things concerns me about revolutions here. I do question how truly peaceful a revolution could be here. It's one thing to be angry and passionate, as the Egyptians rightfully are; it's another to be violent, which we see threats of entirely too much in our society, imho.

[calimary]

24. With all the gun nuts out there just itching to prove how big their swagger is?

:scared:

I'd hate to think.

[bobbolink]

29. The Egyptians were willing to be martyrs. Liberals here... not so much.

you seriously don't think a sizeable number of martyrs here would affect things?

[tularetom]

2. We would be brave enough to revolt in favor of more government repression

Can you imagine protests anywhere else on earth favoring lower taxes on the uber wealthy.

Yet that's what we have here.

Witness the tea party fools.

[CrossChris]

6. The Tea Party orchestrators are smart. They've got the angry mob spun 180 degrees backwards.

It reminds me of a kid with a blindfold on, headed towards a pinata, when someone has spun them the wrong way to start off.

[Skidmore]

11. Has anyone considered coopting the mob and tweaking

the message at the same time?

[CrossChris]

16. I think we can to an extent. Tough to overpower the voices of Rush, Beck, etc.

It seems a LOT easier for the people at the top to work with "the other side" than for us.

[Skidmore]

17. It seems to me that some, not all, of that working with the other side

has brought the systemic problems into sharp relief as well as helped people understand how their lives are impacted by policies created by chasing corporations and their campaign funds.

[CrossChris]

23. I think it can't hurt to try. We have to.

I guess it would "hurt" a little bit, but not as much as getting squashed by an undivided top 1%.

[rurallib]

3. We have had - the fucking rich have taken over everything

in large part due to the help of the ignorant and easily led.
And with a huge assist from corporate media.

[MineralMan]

5. I don't think bravery is the issue. Motivation is more of an issue.

Getting the huge number of people required to make a real difference is not an easy thing to do. Most people are not sufficiently motivated to turn out, and those who are may not be on your side.

I think there are plenty of people who are brave enough, but not enough who are sufficiently motivated.

[monmouth]

7. As long as they're off the streets in time for American Idol....n/t

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. They do effectively that every four years.

The beauty of a democracy is that it makes it easy to overthrow bad governments by non-violent means.

[BeFree]

18. Used to be true

But with the e-vote the owners of the machines are in near total control.

And we all just say: Huh? What? They wouldn't steal our votes. No way.

[el_bryanto]

9. I think another issue is that I think we have too many big cities

and are too spread out. There were some very big protests leading up to the Iraq War in New York and around the country, but because they were so spread out they didn't seem to amount to much.

Plus we have a certain anti-urban feeling in this nation as well; our big cities, where such protests are likely to happen, are not seen as the center of our people - rather it's the small towns that really represent America.

Bryant

[Skidmore]

10. Start by assembling outside of Congress.

This is where the effort needs to be directed. These are the people who have sold out the nation and, on many levels, democracy.

[bdamomma]

13. the congress and media outlets

would be a start for us.

[SidDithers]

12. Revolt against what?...nt

Sid

[gratuitous]

20. Whaddya got?

Sorry; couldn't resist.

But the notion of Americans doing anything non-violently? A non-starter. Violence is so much a part of our society that we hardly recognize it, except in its most extreme forms. The mere suggestion that violence be reduced or ameliorated draws howls of protest from all across the political spectrum. It's our national religion; we believe in violence before liberty, freedom, the pursuit of happiness or anything else you care to name. It's our first resort and our last resort. And if a contender isn't sufficiently violent, then the violence will be ramped up by the opponent against himself as a pretext to use even greater violence (Cf. various COINTELPRO infiltration tactics, agitprop plants, and false flag operations).

[Lucian]

22. You're kidding, right?

Have you been hiding under a rock for the last eleven or so years?

[quinnox]

14. sure, Americans have demonstrated as you noted in the past

But we are a long way from a situation where the people would want a revolution.

[Connie_Corleone]

15. That's what voting is for.

[BeFree]

19. Who counts the votes?

And why do we have so many crooked politicians?

We do not have an open and honest count of the votes.

And, please, don't even try to tell me they wouldn't steal our votes, K?

[Lucian]

21. It's not a question about courage, but a question about laziness and apathy.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

25. My guess is, if it happens, it'll come from the far-right or the Tea Party......

if they feel threatened enough regarding their God, Guns or Glory*.

*FYI, I'm not anti-God, anti-Gun nor anti-Glory (whatever the fuck that means).

[deutsey]

26. First a steady and consistent effort to break down the mental barriers

that keep us divided needs to happen.

The mental barriers that have been erected by the weapons of mass distraction that the ruling elites have controlled for at least 30 years.

As that begins to happen, we can begin to frame an understanding of reality that focuses on and promotes our economic, political, and social interests, not the interests of the wealthy and powerful. At the moment, our interests are rarely reflected in the matrix-like TV reality pumped out 24/7 into our consciousness.

PS: You mention civil rights and anti-war...don't forget the labor and socialist movements during the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

[badtoworse]

27. Bravery is not the issue

You would need agreement on the nature of the threat and the action required to fix it. I doubt you would get that here on DU, never mind the entire country.

[truedelphi]

28. I could not get five people on this board to call the

Reporter's news desk phone number at MSNBC. (After Olbermann was fired.)

But hey, if the revolution calls for long hours of viewing American Idol, I guess we could have ourselves a governmental overthrow in no time.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

30. Or, you could wait for 2012.

The reason Egyptians are more motivated that Americans to undertake an "illegal" change of government is that they have no other way of doing it.

In general, elections are a much better and fairer way of changing a government than mass protests, because a) they measure what all the people are thinking rather than just the ones who control the streets, and b) no-one gets killed.