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Could a Civil Uprising Unseat an Illegitimate Government in the U.S.?
Let’s say the nightmare scenario happens. What options do citizens have?
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the idea of Election Day giving way to “election season,” that record-breaking early voting numbers have permanently shifted the way we think about the process. That may be, but Election Day this year matters for a very specific reason: We’re less than a week away from the most volatile political moment America has seen since the Civil War.
I mean that literally. There’s a greater than zero chance that democracy itself crumbles under an autocratic regime takeover. That after 242 years, a certain someone is either going to steal the election or simply decide they’re not going anywhere.
The possibility of a government that somehow becomes even more draconian and repressive than what we’ve lived under for the past four years is more than just unsettling — it’s enough of a threat to have everyday citizens wondering what resistance will look like.
We’ve all heard theories about nonviolent grassroots uprisings, and what they could do to an illegitimate government. These theories live on places like Facebook and Twitter, but also in barbershops and bars, text messages, and GroupMes. I’ve seen them myself. I’ve seen mentions of “simple” solutions that would bring the government to its knees, ranging from mass worker strikes to refusing to pay taxes.
There’s a greater than zero chance that democracy itself crumbles under an autocratic regime takeover. That after 242 years, a certain someone is either going to steal the election or simply decide they’re not going anywhere.
They sound good, but what would actually happen if citizens used these avenues of resistance? To find out, I spoke to experts about the logistics of some of the more popular scenarios that have been tossed around. Would they work? What’s required? And could they be effective — or…
