Actually, most liberals of my acquaintance (moderate Democrat myself) have always understood that, especially the non-white ones. What the 2A's don't understand is that they are being played by the Republican donor class. If they ever did overthrow the US government (a very long shot), we would have a resurrection of the Confederacy. Mon…
Actually, most liberals of my acquaintance (moderate Democrat myself) have always understood that, especially the non-white ones. What the 2A's don't understand is that they are being played by the Republican donor class. If they ever did overthrow the US government (a very long shot), we would have a resurrection of the Confederacy. Money would rule without an effective government to protect them from the greed of billionaires who would eliminate their beloved Social Security and Medicare and always be able to recruit more guns for hire than any opposition. They simply haven't thought it through. Their Walter Mitty wet dream is that they would get to shoot those "others" without any bullets coming back at them. Most would not stand and fight in a real combat confrontation.
I have always worried more about the tyranny of the private sector and corps than I have the tyranny of the government... mostly because it seems far more likely and one of our major political parties always seems to be working to make it more possible through tax cuts, deregulation, preferential treatment, and reducing the ability of the USG to control corporations and protect workers and consumers.
Exactly! More concentrations of private wealth allows money to corrupt institutes that are supposed to be hedges against concentrations of power generally. If you have a class of citizens who are filthy rich and are always trying to get politicians to do what they want--lest they withhold campaign contributions--then your institutions are going to get corrupted and you won't have a meritocracy anymore and you won't have nonpartisan institutions anymore because money will control things, and the people with more money than others will have their desires met whether or not they are moral or in the good of the public. If you want lower taxes, you end up with larger private concentrations of wealth that are then used to corrupt institutes *against* the public interest.
That shot isn't as long as you'd think. The US military was defeated by illiterate heroin farmers in Afghanistan because we couldn't kill more of them than they were recruiting each year over a 20-year stretch. Now imagine if the same military we'd use to put down a domestic insurgency was full of MAGA sympathizers and you'll see just how easy it might be to neuter the government's armed forces. A lot of them would walk away from the uniform, and those who stayed behind would be at a loss for manpower and equipment that the MAGA loyalists walked away with and/or sabotaged on their way out. Most would not stand and fight, but most wouldn't need to because *even more* liberals wouldn't stand and fight those who did choose to insurrect, and the ones who did choose to stand and fight would be hampered by those who defected or just left their uniforms behind and disappeared into the civilian populace. Never forget that MAGA has more guns than the US government by significant ratios, and that they represent a significant share of the forces that would be mustered to put down a MAGA insurrection. Just some food for thought. I know they have their blindspots in the antigovernment militia community, but we have ours as well. Think about how quickly the government was caught off guard on January 6th and how you had some USCP officers who were negligent in their duties or even sympathetic to the insurrectionists. As the old Rage Against the Machine song goes: "some of those who work forces, are the same who burn crosses."
I didn't say it was impossible, just that I think it unlikely - but I couldn't give you odds. In fact. I was in fact surprised that Jan.6 ended as quickly as it did with as little actual loss of life. And don't forget about the significant numbers of patriotic "others" in the US military, or the fact that there were many "others" in the USCP who held the line on Jan.6. As for myself, having had some military training, my attitude toward anyone who'd want to scare me with an AR-15 could be expressed by quoting Matthew Quigley ("Quigley Down Under"): "I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn't know how to use one."
Actually, most liberals of my acquaintance (moderate Democrat myself) have always understood that, especially the non-white ones. What the 2A's don't understand is that they are being played by the Republican donor class. If they ever did overthrow the US government (a very long shot), we would have a resurrection of the Confederacy. Money would rule without an effective government to protect them from the greed of billionaires who would eliminate their beloved Social Security and Medicare and always be able to recruit more guns for hire than any opposition. They simply haven't thought it through. Their Walter Mitty wet dream is that they would get to shoot those "others" without any bullets coming back at them. Most would not stand and fight in a real combat confrontation.
I have always worried more about the tyranny of the private sector and corps than I have the tyranny of the government... mostly because it seems far more likely and one of our major political parties always seems to be working to make it more possible through tax cuts, deregulation, preferential treatment, and reducing the ability of the USG to control corporations and protect workers and consumers.
Exactly! More concentrations of private wealth allows money to corrupt institutes that are supposed to be hedges against concentrations of power generally. If you have a class of citizens who are filthy rich and are always trying to get politicians to do what they want--lest they withhold campaign contributions--then your institutions are going to get corrupted and you won't have a meritocracy anymore and you won't have nonpartisan institutions anymore because money will control things, and the people with more money than others will have their desires met whether or not they are moral or in the good of the public. If you want lower taxes, you end up with larger private concentrations of wealth that are then used to corrupt institutes *against* the public interest.
That shot isn't as long as you'd think. The US military was defeated by illiterate heroin farmers in Afghanistan because we couldn't kill more of them than they were recruiting each year over a 20-year stretch. Now imagine if the same military we'd use to put down a domestic insurgency was full of MAGA sympathizers and you'll see just how easy it might be to neuter the government's armed forces. A lot of them would walk away from the uniform, and those who stayed behind would be at a loss for manpower and equipment that the MAGA loyalists walked away with and/or sabotaged on their way out. Most would not stand and fight, but most wouldn't need to because *even more* liberals wouldn't stand and fight those who did choose to insurrect, and the ones who did choose to stand and fight would be hampered by those who defected or just left their uniforms behind and disappeared into the civilian populace. Never forget that MAGA has more guns than the US government by significant ratios, and that they represent a significant share of the forces that would be mustered to put down a MAGA insurrection. Just some food for thought. I know they have their blindspots in the antigovernment militia community, but we have ours as well. Think about how quickly the government was caught off guard on January 6th and how you had some USCP officers who were negligent in their duties or even sympathetic to the insurrectionists. As the old Rage Against the Machine song goes: "some of those who work forces, are the same who burn crosses."
I didn't say it was impossible, just that I think it unlikely - but I couldn't give you odds. In fact. I was in fact surprised that Jan.6 ended as quickly as it did with as little actual loss of life. And don't forget about the significant numbers of patriotic "others" in the US military, or the fact that there were many "others" in the USCP who held the line on Jan.6. As for myself, having had some military training, my attitude toward anyone who'd want to scare me with an AR-15 could be expressed by quoting Matthew Quigley ("Quigley Down Under"): "I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn't know how to use one."