The Rich Robbers

>>You know what worries me about all of these "The Rich Are To Blame" articles I'm seeing?

I'm afraid that when the shit hits the fan, we're not going to have the BALLS to do what needs to be done.<<

The rich are not wholly to blame for everything that's going wrong today. They're just hogging the wealth and using their influence to retool a democracy toward a plutocracy. That sucks, but it doesn't excuse the other 99% of Americans from responsibility. People let it happen, often because they want to be insanely rich themselves and believe that it's somehow possible they might grab the brass ring.

>>I feel as though Americans have become weak. There will be no Egypt here in America. There will be no Syria. When the police are sent out in their riot gear to protect the wealthy enclaves, I fear we as Americans will bow our heads and go back to our hovels.<<

That can happen. Clearly Americans have fewer practical skills these days than they used to -- fewer people know how to garden, cook from scratch, preserve food, repair appliances, sew their own clothes, build gadgets, etc. So they're less self-sufficient. They have fewer family ties and less community, on average, so less support for when things get rough. So it wouldn't surprise me to see them give in.

But there's a limit to how long that can happen. There is always a safety catch, and so far no system however tyrannical has managed to disable it. If you push people far enough, they will snap. It's just a matter of how far you can push before that happens; sometimes, appallingly far. Sometimes, it's far enough that some other safety mechanism actually triggers first; a society can also undergo radical transformation if people flee in droves or if it implodes, rather than a revolution. History is full of examples.

There's only so long you can fake your way forward with a system that doesn't actually work. Sooner or later the facts will bite you on the ass and it will cease to function. Only the details are questionable.