# A Hypothetical: Viva la Revolución! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 17, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589 "2020-01-17T23:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589/21 "2020-01-19T01:59:04Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Goal: Overthrow the government and restore democracy! (this is all hypothetical NSA, don’t get your servers in a twist) What if I can’t convince people that democracy is necessary or even the most viable and effective alternative form of government? People won’t risk their lives for freedom and democracy; they’ll risk their lives if they think that the government is going to ruin their standard of living and that they won’t be able to do anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589/22 "2020-01-19T05:49:59Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > In any case, I like a lot of your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. I haven’t posted any fresh smut lately. I should work on that. Problem with political smut is it’s usually a boner-killer. Anything with current players, ick, ewww… Some can be merrily parodied, like Trish Nixon holding up a French tickler in her father’s image and gasping, “Ooh, it’s gooey!” But set here-and-now, it would only seem like reporting. A 2020+ revolution story will require nerdy hackers, Slavic zillionaires, coke-smuggling submarines, balloon-launched amateur satellite zappers, wired killer dolphins, deep-fake political vids, sexual abuse by radioactive octopi, sabotage at a Hormel packing plant, and IQ-enhanced gibbons. Then a cliffhanger ending, with an orgy hinted. But it turns out to all be the wet-dream of a conservative SCOTUS justice and is thus a tragedy. Cue the weepy strings. Oh no, they’re explosive! Next: Naked patriots on skateboards ravage the demon-haunted landscape. Zoom in for details. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589/23 "2020-01-20T14:41:29Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > You don’t think given the scenario I’ve outlined with 48,000,000 revolutionaries they cannot win? Interesting. I thought I was being too generous. Those 48 million people are spread out across about 3.5 million square miles. And they aren’t all revolutionaries, those are the 16% of the population that are unsympathetic to the government _and_ own firearms. Further, these people do not have any clear means of communicating, much less organizing into a formal resistance movement. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589/24 "2020-01-21T18:01:22Z")
It depends on motivation. If the revolutionaries are both motivated to the point of willing to give their lives, and ruthless to the level of Beria, it can be done, I think. So add to the scenario the patently unacceptable propensity of the new government and any who support it to, say, tap the brakes before they enter a tunnel: The revolutionaries threaten the lives of loved ones of low- and mid-level government. Everything from chiefs of police, to sanitation supervisors, to air traffic controllers, and also key private individuals, like truck dispatchers, power-plant maintenance coordinators etc. Threats are individual and specific: quit your job by Friday, or your wife/kid/mom/pet gets it. Follow through on non-compliance. First in a random area of the US as proof of concept, then in whatever area those whom you seek to pressure into making changes live and work. When two kids fight over a toy, the kid least concerned with breaking the toy ends up with it. I reckon the same goes for nation-states. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-hypothetical-viva-la-revolucion/846589.md?page=1)