This Grows Tiresome...

Cossacks suppressing a peaceful demonstration in Russia (Scene from Dr. Zhivago - Source)

As the election approaches, and the media continue to lie to us, both sides mind you, there are those who are already calling for rebellion. Those folks need to understand a few things:

You will be expected to get your hands dirty, you will need to kill, or be killed.

The odds are that the folks you're rebelling against will be -

• better armed,
• better trained and
• better supplied.

Rebellion is not a nine to five job, you don't get to go home at the end of the day, you will be expected to be out in all sorts of weather. Rebellions only stop when the rebellion is crushed, often with great bloodshed, or when the folks you're rebelling against decide to quit.

Expect to live outdoors, expect to not eat very often, expect to get sick.

Rebellions often turn into revolutions. Revolutions eat their young. Ask Robespierre.

Revolutions are safer against a foreign power than they are against a central government. In the American Revolution when the English had had enough, they sued for peace and went home. In the American Civil War the South was crushed and occupied. Not crushed you say?

Ruins of Atlanta Union Depot after burning by Sherman's troops, 1864. (Source)

Ruins of the railroad depot in Charleston, South Carolina (Source)

Shells of the buildings of Richmond, Virginia, silhouetted against a dark sky after the destruction by Confederates, 1865. (Source)

Looks crushed to me.

You will not succeed unless:

• The world sits back and leaves you to it. (Unlikely in this day and age, if the central government is fighting a rebellion, who's going to keep the jihadis out?)
• A foreign power decides to assist your rebellion. Who do you want helping you? Canada? Mexico? China? Russia? Saudi Arabia? Think about it. These things won't happen in isolation.

Consider this, a rebellion will not be supported by the bulk of the citizenry and most likely will not have any considerable support from military veterans. We fought for this type of government and see no reason to change it by force. Administrations come and go, politicians come and go, the Constitution is one of the few constants in this Nation. Try to overthrow the United States government because you're unhappy with the election result. Were there any anti-tank lessons in your self-defense class? No, I didn't think so.

I understand the growing disenchantment with this election. But don't talk about revolution unless you're willing to leave your family, your home, your job, and probably your community. Once the first shot is fired, it will be bloody. There are no mulligans, there are no do-overs. Serious people are out there and will shoot you dead if you rise up. And guess what, there won't be many of you, not many at all, within the first few weeks most of you will be dead or imprisoned, facing charges of insurrection, treason, or something worse. This isn't a freaking video game folks.

Patience. Think. Vote. If the government gets out of hand, work within the system to right those wrongs.

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison on January 30, 1787, argued that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

This was written in reference to Shay's Rebellion (1786 to 1787). I suggest you read up on that, it was a rebellion against the Federal Government. It was crushed by forces of that very same Federal Government.

Rebel casualties were 4 killed with dozens wounded and many arrested. Two men were hanged in the aftermath (John Bly and Charles Rose). Government casualties were one killed with (again) "dozens wounded."

While this rebellion had a large influence on subsequent constitutional events, I'm sure that was a great comfort to the families of those who died.

It is worth noting that Thomas Jefferson, for all his pronouncements about liberty, never shouldered a musket, never faced an armed enemy. Nope, that's for the common folk. The politicians then (as now) get others to do their dirty work.

So don't go spouting off about rebellion and stocking up on ammunition. Stay within the system until the system no longer works. That hasn't happened just yet.

For now, ballots, not bullets.

For governments have a way of making their influence "felt."

(Source)

It will make the Sixties look like a tea party...