Social Unrest in NEAR Future?

[Confederate]

China has threatened war against the U.S. in the event of defaulting on loans and the U.S. Congress has held at least one closed-door session (which Rep. Ron Paul refused to attend) on what happens in the event of wholesale unrest. Various religions are predicting doom and gloom and Nostradamus believers and Mayan calendar people are counting down to 2012.

What do YOU think? More millennial-type hysteria or have we as a country finally crossed some metaphysical line in the sand—a point of no return?

Things have never looked so glum. We passed the "trillion" dollar mark as easily as if it were just the next gear in a 4-drive Chevy. Our country has squandered untold billions of dollars on wasteful projects and gifts to foreign nations and banks, and no one really seems to know just what went where, nor do they care. It seems as though the nation has lost its ability to know where its own self interest lies, and politicians are making drunk sailors look like fiscal conservatives. And the thing that really gnaws at me is that many Americans don't really seem to give a rat's a$$.

Years ago, my economics professor declared that we might yet live to see the day when our national debt would reach $1 trillion. Yeah, it wasn't all that long time ago when we breezed past that and are now heading for double digits.

Then there are the following concerns:

• The Obama administration says the time is long past when constructionist judges should be appointed to the bench. He's promising to lace the current federal judiciary with advocate justices (you know, those guys who say round is square and that up can really mean down);
• Rahm Emanuel has declared that people on the "No-Fly" list should be denied the right to buy a handgun. Later, I'm sure, they'll want to take away all the guns from such people. Meanwhile, the No-Fly List continues to morph into a political enemies list rather than an honest-to-goodness terrorist heads up sort of thing. And don't forget, you can't legally fight your way off the list;
• Emanuel and others in Obama's administration argue that you don't really have to repeal the Second Amendment; all you have to do is regulate handguns and ammunition to death, strangle it with taxes and impractical requirements, like each round having its own serial number; and
• The proposed creation of a youth corps, where American youth are "drafted" into a quasi-federal, quasi-private organization for which they also can also volunteer. In the past such organizations were used to report potentially "treasonous" behavior, which eventually meant acts or statement that threatened those who had seized power.

During the so-called "Civil War," a person could be imprisoned on the testimony of just one person who claimed that a person had voiced secessionist views or had criticized the president. Their homes could be confiscated by the government, the person imprisoned without the writ of habeas corpus and the family turned out into the cold. In Germany, youth groups were always listening to conversations in restaurants, on trains, buses and other public places. And in the Soviet Union and in Iran not so long ago, children were urged to report treasonous activities on the parts of parents and other family members.

Things are happening so fast it's hard to tell if these are real threats or just paranoia. What do you think?

This just in...literally. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has sponsored H.R. 2159, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009, which permits the attorney general to deny transfer of a firearm to any "known or suspected dangerous terrorist." The bill requires only that the potential firearm transferee is "appropriately suspected" of preparing for a terrorist act and that the attorney general "has a reasonable belief" that the gun might be used in connection with terrorism.

Note the wording...any known or suspected dangerous terrorist. Again, you can end up on these lists without any legal ability to fight back. The Homeland Security laws are already on the books. First, you pass the laws, then you execute them. You have to read these things like an attorney. Every word has a meaning and a purpose.

So...again, what think ye?

 

[cbrgator]

Take off your tinfoil hat.

Things DO suck, no doubt. I am furious with the direction of this country. But we are a long way from social unrest and war with China.

That being said, I'm ready for whatever.

 

[Cannonball888]

In before the lock and in for the lock and load.

 

[ants]

Doesn't seem like a THR subject. Go to APS for that.

I remember when National Guardsman opened fire on a college campus, and radicals burned public buildings.
We have come a long way since then, and we're nowhere near civil or social unrest today.

Find a better question on guns and gun ownership, and join the rest of us on the high road.

 

[rdhood]

Our future looks like that of the Europeans. Saddled with debt, our children's USA will not have the same options and opportunities of our grandparent's USA. The blame will primarily fall to Roosevelt and Obama... to the people of the first depression that demanded a government savior and the politicians and those who elected them that demanded this government savior. While insuring a minimal future existence for themselves, they insured that ALL of our children would never have the same opportunities that they had. High achievers will be taxed at 50-60-70%. Advanced healthcare will be slow and rationed. If you want to see the types of social unrest of the future, look to the U.K., France, and Germany.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Theoretically, if a person, or many persons, chose to stand against a government that resembles what many believe the United States is becoming, then a book, or a manual, similar to "Unintended Consequences" needs to be written to instruct how UNORGANIZED resistance can be effected to bring down that government. Future technology, even present technology, makes it almost impossible to ORGANIZE any resistance, as a government could monitor most communications between anyone co-ordinating resistance, and arrest them for conspiracy. The best defense against conspiracy is to do no conspiring. Free speech still exists, as does the publication of books, even books that advocate revolution. As long as the writers of these books never really become actors or conspirators, they may become the "voice" of the people. That is the seed, the recipe for unorganized resistance. I have wondered if spontaneous, erratic, unorganized, and random acts of extreme criminal damaging to a government, its buildings, vehicles, and communications might bring down a government by bleeding it to death by monetary loss. No human life need be taken. I will mention this idea here, and someone may write it up as a work of fiction, as was done in "Animal Farm". Who knows, maybe it would serve as a training manual to those who understand its meaning.

 

[Eric F]

oh boy not again

 

[colorado_handgunner]

This relates to firearm ownership how? Come on guys, lets not go off in the deep end.

Thread reported to mods.

 

[Carl]

It's only happened a couple times but I always feel kinda silly when a thread of mine gets locked.

 

[rbernie]

So...again, what think ye?

I think that this is off topic.