I wrote a while big thing but my ADHD meds wore off part of the way through, leading to a less-than-cohesive stream of thought. My apologies for that.

My point overall is that protests change people, not policy in a government subjugated by oligarchy, which the US has, by the data, been for half of a century. This is why those in the current “bloodless” coup are so anxious to achieve the smallest government that they can, purged of anyone who is not a loyalist. If they succeed, there’s noone on the “inside” to impact any positive change with the existing levers of power. Protest and resist but do it from a place of knowledge. And, unfortunately, do it with awareness that you are likely putting your life and those of your loved ones on the line (please, no cellphones at protests, they are readily traceable).

Things are bad now and are likely, based upon recorded human history, to get worse for at least several generations. If your thesis is that uprisings by a populace subjected to domestic repression is likely, I’m going to need you to share your notes with the class because millennia of data imply otherwise.

It may seem defeatist to you, but, the reality is that the time to save the nation and prevent suffering of its vulnerable as well as genocide abroad and at home is done. The regulatory state is being rapidly dismantled by a billionaire, while none in power offer much more than performative resistance. November was the last “escape hatch”. Right now, it looks like accelerationists have handed the government over to people intent on speed-running a certain austrian’s rise to total power. Better to accept this now and get through the disillusionment so that you can effectively resist into the future.

Now, I absolutely hope that I’m wrong but, the camps being built and talks of international human slavery don’t make that hope very great. Resist as you can and help others as you’re able.