I'm a bit of a UFO enthusiast myself, actually, though I don't believe they exist. I also watch many alien speculation documentaries on the History Channel, but I like to take them with about ten million grains of salt.
This is a general statement, not directed to anybody in particular, and it may be considered off topic, but while the topic of revolution is up, I believe people nowadays on the Internet are severely underestimating what it would take for a revolution to happen in the United States. It's an extremely stable country. For revolution in the U.S. to be a strong possibility in the very least there would have to be mass famines, complete paralysis of government at all levels, multiple foreign powers actively fermenting chaos in the U.S., a crippling of all business activity, unemployment beyond 40%, and myriad other things. The United States has had the same form of government since the Constitution was ratified, with minor adjustments via amendments. It's the oldest continuous republic in the world (correct me if I'm wrong on this), and one can actually make a case for it perhaps being the most stable republic that has ever existed. Since 1787, no revolution has happened. It's somewhat admirable, since there were many events in U.S. history that would ostensibly be "grounds" for a revolution. Just a short list of examples:
-Sedition Acts 1798: Ratified under John Adams, it targeted Democratic-Republican newspapers and straight up banned criticism of the "office of the Presidency". Even with the U.S. in such a fragile state, no revolution.
-Embargo Act 1807: Ratified under Thomas Jefferson, it banned all foreign trade and caused a great deal of smuggling - no revolution though.
-House of Representatives choosing John Quincy Adams as the president instead of Andrew Jackson who won the popular vote. Jackson supporters were a rowdy bunch, but there was no revolution despite the fact they were completely incensed by this.
-Everything leading up to the Civil War.
-Credit Mobilier Scandal. In fact, a ton of scandals during Reconstruction would have Smogon users calling for revolution if Pokemon were a thing back then.
-Grantism in general. Pun intended.
-Various conflicts involving labor unions. There were a lot of revolutionary calls during then but it amounted to zero revolutions.
-Espionage Act and imprisonment of Eugene Debs, which made a lot of socialists mad. The man got 10% as a write in candidate while in prison. It boggles the mind that people actually voted for him. Even as a political statement it was completely ineffective.
-Teapot Dome scandal.
-Prohibition. People weren't mad enough about alcohol being illegal to revolt over it, although they were probably too drunk off illegal booze.
-Great Depression, especially conditions in the Dust Bowl states, would make people think conditions for a revolution were set.
-Vietnam War and its associated scandals. The Vietnam War being a bit of a quagmire (mostly because the U.S. tried to half-ass it at first and then when they tried full-assing it next it was too late) wasn't really grounds for revolution but a lot of revolutionary student movements showed up and did relatively nothing in terms of actually doing a revolution.
-Iran-Contra scandal. Much ado about it but it came to naught, it was pretty much a scandal based on technicalities.
-Everything after this is relatively petty substitute for a previous event. The Iraq War stirred some unrest but it was less than that of the Vietnam War, probably because there was no draft. The recent Financial Crisis is also peanuts compared to the Great Depression.
In fact, I believe as long as the U.S. exists, no revolution will happen within its borders. States will secede from the Union if conditions get bad enough for a revolution (and I'm talking about super, super, never in U.S. history bad), and if conditions were that bad, I probably wouldn't blame them. The Federal government may try to stop them, but that'd be a Civil War, not a revolution.
Honestly, it's absurd. I saw somebody yesterday talking about how U.S. copyright laws would eventually get people mad enough to cause a revolution. Really. Copyright laws.
This is a general statement, not directed to anybody in particular, and it may be considered off topic, but while the topic of revolution is up, I believe people nowadays on the Internet are severely underestimating what it would take for a revolution to happen in the United States. It's an extremely stable country. For revolution in the U.S. to be a strong possibility in the very least there would have to be mass famines, complete paralysis of government at all levels, multiple foreign powers actively fermenting chaos in the U.S., a crippling of all business activity, unemployment beyond 40%, and myriad other things. The United States has had the same form of government since the Constitution was ratified, with minor adjustments via amendments. It's the oldest continuous republic in the world (correct me if I'm wrong on this), and one can actually make a case for it perhaps being the most stable republic that has ever existed. Since 1787, no revolution has happened. It's somewhat admirable, since there were many events in U.S. history that would ostensibly be "grounds" for a revolution. Just a short list of examples:
-Sedition Acts 1798: Ratified under John Adams, it targeted Democratic-Republican newspapers and straight up banned criticism of the "office of the Presidency". Even with the U.S. in such a fragile state, no revolution.
-Embargo Act 1807: Ratified under Thomas Jefferson, it banned all foreign trade and caused a great deal of smuggling - no revolution though.
-House of Representatives choosing John Quincy Adams as the president instead of Andrew Jackson who won the popular vote. Jackson supporters were a rowdy bunch, but there was no revolution despite the fact they were completely incensed by this.
-Everything leading up to the Civil War.
-Credit Mobilier Scandal. In fact, a ton of scandals during Reconstruction would have Smogon users calling for revolution if Pokemon were a thing back then.
-Grantism in general. Pun intended.
-Various conflicts involving labor unions. There were a lot of revolutionary calls during then but it amounted to zero revolutions.
-Espionage Act and imprisonment of Eugene Debs, which made a lot of socialists mad. The man got 10% as a write in candidate while in prison. It boggles the mind that people actually voted for him. Even as a political statement it was completely ineffective.
-Teapot Dome scandal.
-Prohibition. People weren't mad enough about alcohol being illegal to revolt over it, although they were probably too drunk off illegal booze.
-Great Depression, especially conditions in the Dust Bowl states, would make people think conditions for a revolution were set.
-Vietnam War and its associated scandals. The Vietnam War being a bit of a quagmire (mostly because the U.S. tried to half-ass it at first and then when they tried full-assing it next it was too late) wasn't really grounds for revolution but a lot of revolutionary student movements showed up and did relatively nothing in terms of actually doing a revolution.
-Iran-Contra scandal. Much ado about it but it came to naught, it was pretty much a scandal based on technicalities.
-Everything after this is relatively petty substitute for a previous event. The Iraq War stirred some unrest but it was less than that of the Vietnam War, probably because there was no draft. The recent Financial Crisis is also peanuts compared to the Great Depression.
In fact, I believe as long as the U.S. exists, no revolution will happen within its borders. States will secede from the Union if conditions get bad enough for a revolution (and I'm talking about super, super, never in U.S. history bad), and if conditions were that bad, I probably wouldn't blame them. The Federal government may try to stop them, but that'd be a Civil War, not a revolution.
Honestly, it's absurd. I saw somebody yesterday talking about how U.S. copyright laws would eventually get people mad enough to cause a revolution. Really. Copyright laws.
Last edited:
