Why Americans Won't Revolt
Despite America's revolutionary origins, the people have little appetite for defiance.
“America” was born of revolt and distrust of government. But many of us know that those running the US government have arguably threatened and trampled liberty beyond what the British crown did to colonists. The violations are bipartisan and span generations of presidencies. Even so, 1776 has not commenced again despite Thomas Jefferson’s well-known and enduringly popular opinion that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Millions of Americans were hopeful that Donald Trump would usher in a new era of freedom and respect for the Constitution. But amid the war in Iran, the technocratic and surveillance state advancing with increasing speed and intensity, the Epstein debacle, and corporate interests continuing to plague politics, even many MAGA diehards have lost faith.
Similarly, many on the mainstream left were hopeful that the election of Joe Biden (and Obama before him) could usher in a better, more just world. They perpetuated more of the same—the erosion of civil liberties, economic disparity, expanding the technocratic police state, and militarism. Whether Republicans or Democrats are in power, there has been no mass revolt to break free of the ruling authorities.
There is a huge disconnect between the American glorification of revolution against unjust authority and their willingness to actually revolt. But why? There are many often-discussed factors: complacency fueled by endless consumer and digital distractions, the effectiveness of divide-and-conquer propaganda that keeps people fixated on hating their partisan counterparts instead of challenging those in power, and the deterioration of collective intelligence accelerated by the educational system, mindless entertainment, poor health, and social media. I believe all of these are key factors in keeping the masses complacent. But there is another, more fundamental and philosophical dynamic at play.
We (are not) “the people”
In the minds of many Americans, the Constitution that followed the paradigm-shifting American Revolution (and Articles of Confederation) keeps government in check. According to the civics education I and many others received in public school, if politicians step out of line, “the people” can vote them out. In doing so, we learn, they preserve the constitutional, representative system that protects liberties and secures the people’s sovereignty.
I believe it is this narrative—that the Constitution restrains the government and empowers the people—that plays a significant role in preventing Americans from truly revolting, whether in body or mind. This ingrained reverence for constitutional government is, paradoxically, a foundational cause of American inaction and obedience today.
The historical reason for this is simple.
The “nation” is distinct from the “government.” A nation is made up of culture, language, history, and a defined geographic area, for example. The government (or rather the people who make up “government”) claims authority over the people of the nation. The “authorities”—and people who believe in their legitimacy—often conflate the government with the nation. The term “we,” whether the nation or the individuals who live within it, is often used interchangeably with “government.” Politicians and citizens alike often speak of what “we” must do, which almost always means “what the government must do.” They speak of bygone eras where “we” fought in World Wars, “we” staged coups in foreign countries, and “we” fought a civil war, for example. But most of us weren’t even alive during these events, let alone working for the government that engaged in them.
Unlike many other nations around the world, American national identity is deeply fused to the country’s system of government. Revolution may be central to the American sense of “self,” but so is the Constitution and accompanying belief that this document restrains government. With a Constitution, who needs a revolution? “We the people” can preserve freedom and keep corruption in check through government.
America doesn’t have a thousand (or more) years of national identity independent from the current government. The existence of its government, even a constitutional one, is inextricable from American nationalism and the belief that we are free. There were instances of defiance early in the nation’s history: the Whiskey Rebellion or the Nullification Crisis, during which South Carolina defied federal tariffs, provoking threats from President Andrew Jackson to call in the military and force compliance. The “Union” prevailed over the power of defiance.
Lincoln’s top priority of preserving the Union above all else represented the continuation of nationalistic ideology intertwined with statism. Theodore Roosevelt further reflected this mentality with his assertion that “the government is us—we are the government” as he worked to expand the size and scope of the US government at home and abroad. Standard education teaches children that the US government is a direct extension of the hundreds of millions of people who live here. We are the government, so why would we need to revolt against ourselves?
“This much is certain”
If you’ve seen my videos, you’re likely aware that I subscribe to 19th-century abolitionist Lysander Spooner’s view of the Constitution: “whether it be one thing or another, this much is certain: it has either authorized such a government as we have had or been powerless to prevent it.”
But many Americans still believe the Constitution either protects God-given rights or actually grants them (see: many Trump supporters insisting only citizens are guaranteed constitutional rights). The Constitution gives a false sense of security where revolution never feels necessary because “if ‘we’ just go back to the Constitution, things will get better.” By “we,” most people mean politicians and government, reflecting the conflation of both nation and individual with government. After all, it’s not regular people routinely violating the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It’s those in power who simultaneously claim to champion it.
