I think that its not that armed citizens could actually make any credible, long term threat to a fully committed and cooperating government force. It is that such a confrontation would be so unpredictable and so, so messy politically that it actively repels even committed politicians from ever considering such a course in pursuit of radical extreme ideas. Its just the thought of the stuff hitting the fan that helps keep the ship of state on an even keel. It is as the founders intended it to be.
Well put Bob.
It may come a time when each must decide if the road of defiance is the correct path.....regardless of the odds.
If we don't have the wherewithal to do that the battle is already over.
Agree, Ken.
A small force will handle a riot. In the event of a rising, it would take all the military and, most likely, a lot more. "--- a fully committed and cooperating government force." Probably true, but our military is made up mostly of citizens and is mostly geographically mixed. The "fully committed" and "cooperating" parts would be hard, hard, hard to keep in place. I'd expect that the first foreign troops, troops that might be expected to be fully committed, would immediately provoke a rising. I'd bet that fully committed citizens would quickly trump questionably committed citizen troops.
