> How does code beat guns? How does anything beat guns? In theory, the U.S. armed forces could depose the government, but culture and tradition ensure that it

> How does code beat guns? How does anything beat guns? In theory, the U.S. armed forces could depose the government, but culture and tradition ensure that it defers to democratic institutions. In a country with a history of coups, especially coups that have deposed harmful regimes, coups are regarded in a more positive light. They are thinkable and therefore possible. In the United States, given our history, things would have to change a lot (even much more than electing an incompetent, incontinent buffoon as president) before a coup would become possible. Direct democracy would be tenuous at first, perhaps assuming more and more responsibility over time under the watch of a representative government that gradually became a caretaker bureaucracy, with the trust and respect held by representative democracy institutions gradually transferring to the direct democracy institutions.