Machiavelli pointed out in The Prince

[Jackpine Radical]

that the despot can't grind the peasantry totally into the ground--he (in those days almost always he) had to leave them enough to keep them above the level of desperation from which Jacqueries arise.

Assume for the moment that {{shudder}} Romney wins in November & goes all vulture capitalist on the whole country, as walker is doing here, basically selling off all the public property at scrap values, eliminating adequate health care for all but the rich, reducing taxes on the rich, eliminating all sorts of public services, defunding veterans' health care, etc.

At what point would the people feel desperate enough to rise up en masse against their oppressors? Would it necessarily be violent? Would the military & the cops remain loyal to their big-$$ owners, or would they mostly desert & join the rebels?

And what are the best- and worst-case scenarios as you see it?

[teddy51]

1. That is an incredibly good question, to which I don't have a clue of the answer. I guess

as long as you left their American Idol, and other shows alone it would take a very long time for them to rise up.

[EFerrari]

2. Imho, the problem we have is that the 1% is acting out high risk behavior

and they have zip experience with consequences so the risks they are taking aren't real to them.

We are already seeing the government deploy counter insurgency measures. At some point, those will fail.

[yurbud]

5. I've tried to figure out what's made this generation of rich so short-sighted

assuming one generation is no more or less moral than another, what external factors could be at work?

I would say a lack of direct exposure to war.

those old enough to have a memory of WWII and the Great Depression know there is a very real chance of a violent uprising that their money can't protect them from.

noblesse oblige was a survival strategy not a moral principle.

wealthy folks of the boomer generation and younger have no experience of war that threatens them and only three handful that planned on careers in politics served in Vietnam.

so like most average folks, they falsely assume things will always be the way they are, the peasants will always be docile and never collect their pitchforks and torches...

[Deny and Shred]

3. Not very fast.

The Romney-ization of America that you outline has been already happening since Reagan. If anything, people will vote FOR it, as they have. There will continue to be constant media blaming it all on dems, populists, etc. There will continue to be thick Americans who buy into that

As messed up as things may seem, we are not going to have the revolt en masse in the next 9 years. We are still far more stable than Machiavelli could have imagined from his cell in a medieval city-state.

It would take much more societal devolution for the center and left to 'militarize.' It would take clear and stark examples of wrongdoing that had immediate devastating consequences for our military to skip on down past orders from direct superiors to the 'defend the Constitution' part of their code. I do think the military hardware-ization of domestic law enforcement in the name of Homeland Security was intentional as a 'just in case the masses don't buy into our agenda.'

I think its far more likely a 2nd Obama term emboldens some degree of violence from far-righties.

The modern bread & circuses, and I include drugs as one, have been powerful diversions, and that will continue.

Worst-case? The masses get slaughtered, and a far more naked version of Fascism dominates.

Check out Mach's Discourses, too. More about how to maintain power after winning the war.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. As long as a majority have their TV and beer (any substance to numb the brain will do)

they will happily sit and await their fate. By the time enough of them have tipped to the problem, it will be too late.