Revolution?

Could a revolution take place here in the United States?  Listening to podcasts and reading articles about the protests and the overall revolution that is taking place in the northern part of Africa and in the Middle East has got me thinking if it were possible to happen here.  In order for it to happen, democracy would have to topple and something 'better', politically, would have to come along.  Looking at the reason for all the protests it has to do (generally) with getting rid of a leader that has oppressed their own people for decades.  We already have that issue covered with the twenty second amendment.  So what would we have to protest and revolt against? 

We have it easy living in the United States, thanks to the first go around with the revolution idea.  It helps that they fought a country that was an ocean away.  A revolution could not work here today.  There is too much organization within the government that could stomp out any inklings of a revolution.  The protests we see today here in the US are a joke.  Think about the Tea Party protests. 

*Sidebar* 

Tea Party people are fucking idiots.   

*Sidebar done*

So you have the Tea Party protests a couple of years ago.  Nothing says complete revolution like a bunch of right wing nuts complaining because their party is no longer in power and the new president is trying his best to put the country back together after the previous president screwed the pooch.  Being a democrat is not being a socialist or a communist.  Figure it out. 

I point out these protests by the Tea Party because they are the most recent and are well known to most everyone here.  The problem is that they would all gather for the day, shout random profanities and hold signs saying they hated the president and that he was a commie and a Muslim and was ruining the country and then?  Then they would go back to their homes, cook dinner, go off to bed after being crooned into a state of ignorance by Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh. 

If you want the government to change their thoughts and ideas, is a one day protest going to do that?  No.  If you want your government to listen to what you have to say, is yelling at them from afar going to get your point across?  No.  You want to start a revolution, you need to quite your job and take it on full time.  You need to be willing to march in the streets for weeks at a time.  And having a protest here and there will not work.  Organization is key.  A protest in New York City being held on the same day as one in Dallas or Chicago does not a revolution make.  You need to concentrate your people. 

The scary part of a revolution is death.  Let's face it, toppling a government is not going to be bloodless.  You think some fifty year old conservative is willing to give their life to a cause?  Please.  We are too selfish in this country to even consider it.  Would you be willing to go on a hunger strike in prison like Bobby Sands or Francis Hughes (look them up).  Imagine the pain of not eating for sixty days.  Two months?  Crazy.  Or an even more sever protest, would you be willing to set yourself on fire in protest to your government like Mohamed Bouazizi or Abdou Abdel-Moneim Jaafar?  All of them are martyrs to their causes but are also extreme cases of how hardcore someone can be for what they believe in.   

I know that this topic is pretty heavy.  Revolutions are not fun.  You can talk and joke about them with your friends, but the follow through is intense and insane.  Personally, I am happy to be living in this country for the fact that it is stable and we don't have a leader that will stay in power decade after decade.  No country is ever going to have everyone be happy.  There is going to be dissent and anger towards your government, that is just the way people are.  It allows everyone to complain about something they don't like.   





Besides, if we didn't have dissent and anger, we would have utopia, and who wants that?