I love it when people argue 'theoretically', on how difficult it would be, and then guns are brought up in the debate as 'defence' against something that is 'theoretically' very unlikely.
It goes without a saying, that in such a scenario most of the military and probably the population would be ON THE SIDE OF THE TYRANICAL GOVERNMENT, which in their mind would not be tyranical, but necessary. A coupe or take over doesn't happen over night. Did you know that the Weimar Republic had a constitution too? The Nazis did a hell of a lot of things that have been 'illegal' under the constitution, but no one gave a fuck about it, thats why they could do it, that's how things operated. No one in the entire Wehrmacht spoke against Hitler when they put an oath on his person, rather than the republic and the constitution.
The Nazis build an ideology that promised the people a lot, and they went with it. And this, is something that could happen in the US just as everywhere else - I am not saying that it is LIKELY to happen, just that it is POSSIBLE, americans are not aliens, and in such a case the majority of the citizens, including gun owners, would be on the side of the government, be it because of propaganda or some strange sense of honor, duty, patriotism what ever. I quote:
- Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Göring
I already said it, and I say it again. If fascism ever makes it to the US, then it will come wraped in to the flag and with a gun(right). It will be covered as patriotism, as rightfull duty to the nation, as action to defend the nation. Constitutions are pieces of paper, they are only as much worth as the people that believe in it, and that number is dwindling. If 90% of the population suddenly believes that it's not worth a dime, you can use it as toilet paper. How many people would stand up and taking up arms if the government would start to round up Muslims, throwing them in 'detention' camps, or if you want concentration camps. Impossible? Mhmm .... let us think again ...
Think about it this way, has anyone seriously tried to topple the government when it became apparant that it 'lied' or at the very least 'missinformed' the population about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? had that any consequences at all? How many people not just on the american side have died in all of the useless conflicts that happend since 9/11, which just for it self, still is an unsolved issue, but let us not get to much into that. Has any of that ever had any consequences? Any president, at least since 2001, has violated one way or another, including Obama, all kinds of human rights and international laws. But does that concern the population? Not by much I would say, and why? Because most americans have the self-image of being the good guys, even if they do sometimes a few bad things, but all in all it's for democracy and liberty, so the end justifies the means?. The reality is, not enough have been concerned to actually take up actions. No, that would ridiculous, you don't start a revolution over such things - and neither should we, as revolutions are often enough bloody and tend not to improve the situation. But the point I want to make is, that tyranical governements or populations do not see them self or represent themself as the Evil, they rationalise their decisions, they justify their actions and in such a way, that it sounds plausible, if not for everyone but for the majority. The nazis or communists never came in, explaining themself as the evil guys or demons, no they always saw themself as the good ones, who had the dificult job of exterminating the evil. You would be surprised how many, even high ranking Nazi officials, generals etc. actually had the opinion, that not all Jews have been 'bad' and actually some of them pretty good human beings, but that it was simply necessary from their point of view to remove them, as they saw the jewish race and religion as inherently evil - which sounds awfully familar to what some people say about islam and muslims today.
That is how such systems operate. The enemy is evil, and he has to be erradicated, and exceptions just proof the rule.
I just find this idea, that an armed population would topple their own tyranical government laughable. Dicatorships, usually work with the approval of their population, or that is the moment they cease to exist and something else will take up the power. That's how it happend in Iran, in Germany, Afghanistan, tzarist Russia and many other places. And I do not have any doubts in my mind, that something similar could happen in the United States, given the right conditions there are historical presedences and the average american citizen is not special here compared to the rest of the human population.
The only instance, that I could actually get behind is the idea of a foreign power invading the United States, yes in such a scenario they would have a very difficult time! Proably no power, could beat their population. But how likely is that? It's even less likely compared to the United States becoming a dictatorship. No one's going to attack a nation with nuclear weapons, hell not even Trump is that stupid, as we can see with North Korea which is all bark and no bite.
So don't give me this YOU DUN NOTHING; I KNEW MILITARY thing.
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