How much would you *really* risk for your politics?

[Mairead]

Trying to make major changes in The Way Things Work has always come at a high cost for some participants and even onlookers. This was true of the Revolution against Britain, the Civil War, the long struggle for rights for working people, and the struggle for equal civil rights for Black people and other identifiable minority groups. Many died at the hands of thugs or the corrupt law, many were maimed, many lost everything they had.

In modern times, it's usually been the rank-and-file who've made the sacrifices and done the bleeding, not the leaders (Malcolm and Martin were notable, sad exceptions to that general rule).

Imagine that it's crunch time. The neo-Brownshirts are triumphantly rallying in the stadiums and schools, and the police and courts cannot be trusted.

What would you do? Nobody can know for sure before the event, but what's your best hand-on-your-heart, soul-searching guess?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Other:

Become the Malcolm. Start the American Liberation Front, and start making bombs. (note to humorless Secret Service agents: piss off)

[Craig3410]

2. I would do what I could WITH putting my life and property at risk

IOW, "damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead".

[unhappycamper]

3. .

:wtf: I survived two tours in Nam, no harm in rolling them thar dice again.

[atreides1]

4. Other

I have already sworn my allegiance the the Constitution of the United States, and have sworn to defend it from enemies, both foreign
and domestic, but especially the domestic ones!!!!

You cannot have freedom without the willingness to give your life for it, but it's so much better to give the lives of those against you for it.

Patton said it best when he said that no one ever won a war by dying
for his country, he won it by making the other SOB die for his!!!!!


Good words, hopefully we won't have test them, but if we do then so be it.

On edit, those who said they would sell up and leave like the Jews should have done, well the Jews tried, no one wanted them, including the United States.

[Mairead]

5. bump

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Other, i am raedy and ahve been ready for a while

to give up my life, that way my nephews can grow up in a free country

[JNelson6563]

7. I'm ready

and I have assumed a leadership role with the idea it may come to the extremes you describe (shit it's been close!). I know there is a price that comes with leadership and I am willing to pay that price.

If I saw it coming I would man the battlestations and play my role but I would also get my kids out of the country. Thankfully my large Irish clan is all over the world and there are lots of places to stash my kids safely.

Julie

[nookiemonster]

8. Fuck it. I'm fighting.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson

:patriot:

[Jack_DeLeon]

9. Umm where is the option for fighting?

you know with guns and stuff?

And also it obviously depends on which parts of my "politics" I would fight for, I probably would not wage a guerrilla war to preserve social security for example, however for things I might.

[Mairead]

10. Sorry, it's the "put my life on the line" one

That one originally read "I would get the cats and the kids to safety and then put my life on the line, doing whatever it takes, including violence, to turn things around".

But then I got worried about COINTELPRO snoops and watered it down, thinking people would read between the lines.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

11. I guess if it really came to that, I'd have to take a stand.

Anything not worth dying for, is rarely worth living for.

[Mairead]

12. bump