Reply #44: I agree with your sentiment but not the examples.

[Mithreal]

Some people always do vote, so using the vote as a counterpoint is incorrect. If since the founding of this country no one voted, then I would accept the point. Same with nuclear weapons, they have been used and they have been tested. The threat is real and recent. Maybe a week ago there was a story on DU about a man who survived Hiroshima and went back home to Nagasaki and experienced the second bombing as well. The Cuban event was even more recent. The real threat of nuclear annihilation is alive and well. You are correct, we do tread cautiously with other nuclear powers for good reason. But these are not good examples of what I mean by a power that is not exercised because they have been within living people's lifetimes.

Just so you know, I made no assumption that you were advocating insurrection, that is why I asked if you were doing that.

And your point about Iraq doesn't precisely apply either. The insurgents do not have to face our soldiers openly in armed conflict but did practice guerrilla tactics, the only rational armed response to a comparably massively overpowered occupying force. We paid people to stop fighting us and even armed former enemies as well. Guerrilla tactics are not what the second amendment is about either, the second amendment is about freedom to bear arms.

Soldiers will do what they are trained to do and those who choose not to follow illegal orders will do so at their own peril. I do not agree that the days of government trust are over. The approval ratings of Congress have climbed since the Bush admin and President Obama's overall approval ratings are high. People want to trust their government. You might be seeing ebb and flow of trust but trust in government is alive and well.