Crazy watch.
Forty-four percent of Republicans agree that armed revolution may be necessary to protect American liberties, according to a gun control poll conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University (pdf).Eighteen percent of Democrats and 27 percent of independents agree that Americans may need to take up arms against their government, the study’s authors found.
Alternet
44 Percent of Republicans Think Armed Revolution May be Necessary, Study Finds
Stephen Hsieh
12 comments:
It's Hard to argue with a need to replace the two party regime in Washington. I'm not sure who is crazier: The Repubs who think their guns pose a threat against this government, truly laugh out loud funny. Or the Dems who thought sitting in parks peacefully would in any way rid Washington of corruption. A great deal of naivete all around about the lengths the beneficiaries of government policy will go to keep their access. Virtually no one is angry enough to put their lives, reputations or blood on the line. Perhaps that is what our republic does, it performs just poorly enough to avoid insurrection.
Perhaps that is what our republic does, it performs just poorly enough to avoid insurrection.
That's a feature in the eyes of the designers of political systems (elites), not a bug. Sometimes an elite overreaches though. uit it takes a lot and there's usually ample warning to shift course a bit to co-opt the rabble with bread and circuses. Historically, elites have generally pushed their systems as far as they could and stil maintain power.
Tom,
Who performs at the "bread and circuses" and do they get paid to perform? Artists? Should we not have art and performance if we have great surplus in real terms?
Are "bread and circuses" really bad if the folks are paid for their time and efforts if we have great surplus in real terms?
rsp,
Contemporary "bread and circuses" are relatively costless distractions, from which the elite can usually also either profit or extract rents. The new circuses are sports and entertainment, digital gadgets, digital media, and the new "bread" is the dollar stores, Walmart, and other low-end retailers that provide cheap food and trinkets. The other ploy is to keep them too busy on the treadmill to notice, e.g., that corp profits are at an all-time high while wages are headed in the other direction.
"The new circuses are sports and entertainment, digital gadgets, digital media, and the new "bread" is the dollar stores, Walmart, and other low-end retailers that provide cheap food and trinkets."
Cheap food can be a good value. My wife and I shop for almost half of our groceries in an Odd Lot Dollar store where we can buy organic gourmet foods for half the price we would pay at a super market.
Ed, I am not knocking discount stuff and used stuff. The best way to protest against consumerism is not to buy into it in the first place, and buying under-market is essential the same to your wallet as a tax cut.
Especially if one is doing this out of choice, I would add the further criterion of only patronizing firms that offer a fair deal to all concerned — customers, employees, and suppliers. This is a reason I like co-ops, since most of them pay attention to this. This usually means paying a bit more, but it is also higher quality.
However, a lot of people are dependent on low cost goods and entertainment, and if it were not there, the level of social unrest would be a whole lot higher.
The bean counters actual compute the inflation index taking into account the tendency to lower one's living standard as the gap between prices and wages increases through "substitution." A lot of the former middle class are now substituting down out of necessity rather than choice, and this resulting in dissatisfaction but not yet social unrest. Eventually it would if carried far enough.
I am also quite surprised that contemporary youth is as complacent as it is about the debacle that the oncoming generations are facing. While a lot of the 60=70s counterculture can be attributed to the anti-war movement, that was not all of it. It really was a countercultural movement.
I think that one reason, in addition to abolishing the draft, that there is less agitation among youth results from being co-opted by gadgetry and the Internet. Now entertainment is low-cost to free. Moreover, the countercultural movement of the 60-70s removed a lot of the social strictures that resulted in youth dissatisfaction.
Yet, it is necessary to add to that the advent of the police state and the surveillance state, as well as the recent demonstrations that dissent will not be tolerated have created a potentially explosive situation down the line.
reactionary to obama. Number gets cut by %80 if next pres is white republican.
Tom: "I am also quite surprised that contemporary youth is as complacent as it is about the debacle that the oncoming generations are facing."
I'm not sure what age group you mean by "youth"…but..
The 'circus' is bountiful these days. Unlimited high quality porn on the net, video games, enthralling television dramas no matter your genre, checking Facebook a few times every hour whenever there is a moment to spare, year round televised professional sports, and even better… fantasy sports league, etc.
I'd say 95% of my 300 or so facebook friends are not engaged in "issues" at all. Just not interested; most of us between the ages 25-35. I suspect most 18-25 year old aren't much different.
One problem I think is relevant is an over-saturation of information. It's like looking at a menu. When it's a really big menu, it's much harder to choose what to eat, than if it's a smaller menu.
JK I'm not sure what age group you mean by "youth
When I say "youth" or "young people" I mean those of an age that will be caught up in the midst of this debacle that will be unfolding over the next several decades if the trajectory doesn't change markedly.
What do you see as the major elements of the debacle?
Besides a crisis of resource scarcity and/or climate change, I reckon the system seems resilient.
Resource scarcity and negative externalities, esp. environmental degradation and global warming are the big issues that the world will be dealing with in this century. "It's the ecology, stupid."
The other huge issue is globalization, and "the great leveling" as finance capital demands low wages in order to increase the efficiency of capital. Along with this will be the increase in automation and robotization to further reduce production costs.
A great divide is developing between those that have access to mass markets and the enormous rents they produce, and they those that don't, especially those dependent on an hourly wage.
Those that do will reap enormous rewards proportionally, creating a two-tier society. The fate of the lower tier is going to be increasingly "sultan-fanning" (h't Warren).
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