How and why do people rise up to throw off their government, depose a dictator, behead a queen, or crush a tyrannical government?
This question was one for history classes in high school and in our universities for the past century or so. A question meant to stir learning and understand how humanity comes to a boiling point ⏤ throws caution to the wind, and pursues freedom at all costs, even to the point of self-sacrifice for a cause.
This question, it seems, is no longer relegated to the passive pages of a history book but is being revived and brought back to life, much like Frankenstein’s monster. For the past several years, the social media and the private conversations of ordinary Americans have hinted at the rise of the kind of anger and frustration with a government that is often found in the initial stirrings of a movement that can and has led to revolution across the globe.
On talk shows, podcasts, and even in some radio advertisements, we hear ads for “Survival Products” and being prepared for what’s next. The ideas of revolution seem to be brewing. A primordial soup of discontent fueled by changes that threaten a way of life and displacement of people.
But with all this talk, is revolution really an option in our modern world, especially here in America?
On June 21, 2023, FOX News had President Biden quoted as saying, “You know, I love these guys who say the Second Amendment is — you know, the tree of liberty is water with the blood of patriots. Well, if [you] want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16. You need something else than just an AR-15.”
As Presidential quotes go in relation to American freedom, I found this comment and the sentiment behind it horrifying. The president takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, which, as per the founding fathers, includes throwing off a tyrannical government if need be.
I would hope that every president would hold as a core belief the ultimate responsibility to ensure that America remains true to the guiding principles of the Constitution and would lead the charge to revolution if the government becomes tyrannical and abridges the traditional rights of every American.
In the Constitution, we can read the exact words:
“That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.”
It is shocking that President Biden, instead of understanding the citizens’ call for maintaining our rights and the fear many have that those rights are being threatened ⏤ he takes a stand more akin to a dictator and threatens the citizenry by saying you would need F16s to take on the government.
With a presidential belief like that, he is correct; the government, backed by the power of the US Military, aligned against the citizens, would have no chance to fight for their freedom.
This comment then reveals the truth of the matter and the current state of reality for every American citizen. The government is now in charge; they will decide what rights you can have and what you can say and do. This has flipped the script from the time-honored “We the People” are in command of government to “The government is in command to Thee the People, and you will conform.”
The founding fathers are rolling over in their graves; this is precisely what they saw as not a possibility but an inevitability, and thus, we have the wording of the Constitution to warn us of this day.
So, is revolution possible in America today?
I think, in America, anything is possible, but a traditional revolution is improbable in the face of the F-16s we do not have or the might of the army we cannot match. Revolution, then, cannot come through the force of weapons.
How, then, could a revolution take place?
As I see it, the only possible way a revolution could begin and take hold would be via the route of the most powerful of human tools: with the force of ideas, beliefs, and good men and women who are willing to stand up and speak the words of freedom. To unite the patriots and lead us to greater freedom and liberty.
It is ironic then that we must rely on the very members of the same government that threatens us to protect us, but that is the case.
We need leaders who see their place in history, not as a twenty-term congressman amassing generational wealth through their political contacts, but as patriots like the signers of the Declaration of Independence who said: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
But are there such people today, like those stalwarts of freedom and liberty, or are they only a relic of history? Time will tell, but the turmoil of our current status is building; many feel it directly, and others think it as a disconcerting and not totally identifiable ripple through our daily lives. An uncomfortable anxiety that gnaws at our souls, a feeling that we cannot continue at this fever pitch, a recognition that something is wrong.
It is this feeling that something is wrong that stokes the embers of revolution. Each example of building tyranny and the hopelessness of being able to control your own destiny is no longer seen as a one-off event but rather as an expected next shoe to drop.
As these shoes drop, they create a drumbeat of anticipation, anger, and fear. It establishes the stirring of emotion and the need to act. The need to act can express itself as protesting, voting, or violence. And just as music can go in any direction as the melody changes, so can the expression of emotion, good or bad.
It is here that we need men and women who are called to something greater than themselves to be the revolution of ideas that will once again secure our liberty and dedicate themselves to freedom and the American people.
Revolution has come historically when no other option is available, when people feel abandoned, when they are separated for political gain and pitted against each other to cause chaos, and the despots must step in to maintain order.
Order is good, but liberty is better.
As it was 248 years ago, it is, once again, ultimately the American people that will decide the future of our nation. I pray we can find a way to discuss our differences, acknowledge each person as an individual, respect each other, and walk together toward the future as one people, one American family.
Source: Americas upcoming Revolution – the historical response to tyranny – America Out Loud News