Quote:
Originally Posted by loramin
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And if any of this nonsense (of the US military vs. its own citizens in some sort of Rambo guerilla warfare scenario) y'all are dreaming up ever comes to pass, we've all already lost.
Which is NOT to say "it can't happen here". Countries like Venezuela (or Turkey or ... there's lots of examples) provide a perfect example of how to go from democracy to dictatorship. There's nothing magical or special about America, inherently, that prevents us from going down that road (certainly not the 2nd amendment).
But what does protect us is our democratic institutions and traditions. At the moment if Trump (or Barack, or whoever) declared himself dictator, the armed forces would revolt. It would take time, and the corruption of our democracy, before we'd have a Venezuela-like setup where the military has no choice but to support their bosses.
But if we don't defend our democracy, we absolutely 100% could get to that point.
(As an aside, you should read about what they do to Venezuelan soldiers when the powers that be even think might be considering revolting. Essentially they bring them in, take them to a room with a big board with a cloth over it, and then pull off the cloth to reveal that the board is covered with all the family members/loved ones of the soldiers. They make it clear (without ever actually saying it) what will happen to those people if the soldiers revolt.
And that's just the ones they suspect might harbor some doubts; if they actually have proof of you defying them ... well let's just say there's a reason Maduro is still in power there.)
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It's a mixture of things that protect us.
You're right, our democratic institutions do protect us, but the 2nd Amendment is our insurance in case shit really hits the fan.
Is it a guarantee that protects our freedoms? Of course not. But if I was a tyrannical dictator, I sure as hell wouldn't want to face off against a population with over 300 million firearms.
That's a nightmare scenario for any military.