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Having lived through the collapse of the USSR, the key events could be: 1. New leaders emerge. Industrialists, generals, university professors, even shipyard e
by mopsi 6y ago
Having lived through the collapse of the USSR, the key events could be:
1. New leaders emerge. Industrialists, generals, university professors, even shipyard electricians. They obtain enormous influence through their personal charisma, leadership skills and the political platform they advocate for (think Martin Luther King).
2. Local municipal authorities stop recognizing the central government. They establish democratically-elected councils to temporarily run things in the power vacuum.
3. Security apparatus flips - police and military will stand by, do nothing and just wait to see how the situation develops. Each battalion and police station aims to maintain reasonable peace in their own district (in cooperation with local authorities) and ignores other orders.
4. Having lost all support and control, the central government collapses under its own weight. They may issue orders, but no-one's following them.
5. A grassroots, national assembly type institution with universal popular support emerges to prepare major legislative reforms such as a new constitution to formalize power transfer to new institutions (new government, new parliament). A referendum or general election seals the deal.
In contrast, a bunch of rednecks breaking in for a few hours, taking selfies and stealing minor items is nowhere near this. They have no real leaders, no platform, no support.
- TameAntelope 6y agoI think this is a good response, but I do urge you to consider that there is not one specific form a failing Republic will take. Also, I would argue that many of these things did take place. America is fortunate there was a competence problem, but I identify many of the items you listed here as having transpired. A failed <thing> is still an attempted <thing>.
- legutierr 6y ago> Each battalion and police station aims to maintain reasonable peace in their own district (in cooperation with local authorities) and ignores other orders. Well, considering that this is how domestic police and national guard already operate in the US—with police operating under municipal authority, or under the authority of the local elected sheriff, and with national guard operating under the authority of each state governor—I don't think observing this would give you any indication that the republic is under threat. In fact, your points 1, 2 and 3 seem to describe the normal operation of American democracy for the past 200 years or so, with regards to most domestic affairs.