Revolutions

Have you ever noticed that the people who talk the most about revolution are some of the least in need of one? I hear people complaining about taxes, threatening revolution. Or gun control, saying we need a revolution. And ya know what, the people who are really poor in this country, really getting shit on, I don't hear from them. And they're the ones who need a freaking revolution. If you're rich enough to be paying a lot of taxes, you are probably one of the people that gets revolted against, not one of the revolters. Most of the people I see in the NRA don't look like poor oppressed masses to me. Why revolt when you're making enough money to own 100 guns? What are you bitching about?

I've heard this from both sides of the political divide, too. I had this friend in college who was awesome, and very left. Actually, he was a Marxist. And he would talk about the revolution. So one day I asked him why he was so eager for the masses to rise up and kill us. We were both white, both middle to upper middle class, both certainly benefiting from the capitalist society more than the Marxist masses. He actually seemed a bit taken aback. He said we'd be the inteligentia. I just didn't see people approaching he and I to be the intelligentia. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for change. Truly. I think things need to change, in lots of ways. Now I may be totally off base here but I just think that praying for revolution is a stupid, stupid thing. I think people who say these things have never thought about what a revolution would mean. What any freaking war means, much less a civil war. I think revolution is an utter failure of every side of a debate and to be avoided at almost any cost, and I hope it is never necessary and never occurs.

Veering away on a tangent, I think it would be fascinating to study revolutions, though. To try to figure out when and why they occur and if they've ever involved revolts against things like, oh, I don't know, gun contorl laws or health care policy. There is probably some really awesome book on the topic that does just that - goes through history and examines revolutions in a succinct and useful way. If there isn't there should be. And if there is, let me know what it is!