The U.S. and Israel have decapitated Iran and probably are working on the neck and shoulders of the religious leadership. The apparent thinking is that Iran will soon run out of people volunteering to be leaders or change their evil ways.
That makes sense. At least at first thought it does. Let’s run through a little thought experiment I have had a few times with some close friends a decade or two ago.
Imagine an alternate timeline where SCOTUS came up with different result in the Heller decision and things went downhill from there. Today, in this alternate timeline, U.S. gun owners realize all they have left is the 100 million guns and a few billion rounds of ammo they had hidden before everything else was confiscated. They still have the firepower and now the motivation to remove the tyrants and restore liberty and the true meaning of the U.S. constitution.
In a coordinated attack, with the help of insiders during the state of the Union address, they take out POTUS, all his cabinet, the VP, and the Speaker of the House. They then make it known that everyone who voted for the unconstitutional (in the eyes of the gun owners) laws must be removed from office and replaced with constitutionally friendly politicians. If not, minds will continue to see the light in the most literal sense.
What would the response be? Would the remaining anti-gun politicians go into hiding or give up power? Or would they double (and/or triple) down?
I believe that the smart money, in the best-case scenario, says, “That’s an interesting question.” The more likely result is a police state and mass killings of innocent people.
What are your thoughts on what to expect in this alternate U.S. timeline and what that might tell us about what the Iran response will be?
Pretty much the scenario you outlined. Uprisings don’t need guns but they do need organization. Gandhi and Walesa led completely unarmed uprisings. Collins and Begin were perennially short of weapons. Of course, we did have weapons but the key was organization.
“Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”
We lost at Lexington but won at Concord when the reinforcements arrived from every village and farm.
If the tribunals for violating USC 242 were immediately held on the House floor, you’d end up with about 450 out of 525 Representatives and Senators looking like overripe fruit (i.e., hanging from a tree).
There would be no point in telling them that they would be removed from office, since any oath they swore to stay out of politics at any level would be null and void. Besides which, none of the gun-banners have even a shred of courage, so they would lie like a cheap rug.
Putting their heads on pikes outside the House and Senate chamber might “encourage the others”, the newly-elected ones, to not grotesquely violate the Constitution, but the effect wouldn’t last more than a few election cycles.
The bunch of things we really need would be to amend the Constitution (or re-write it) to eliminate the 16th Amendment (get the government back to its original sources of taxation), the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators) which killed the notion of actual federalism in which state legislatures elected the Senators.
We would need to add some simple little things like term limits (2 for President and VP, 2 for Senators, and 4 for House Reps) to keep the politicians and their aides amateurs. We neither want nor need a professional political class. And once you’ve run your terms in the federal government you are not allowed to ever run for any political office again, not even dog-catcher.
We also need financial transparency on anyone running for ANY government office, from dog-catcher to mayor to state legislature on up. Your finances can be audited at any time and by anyone, for no reason at all, if you’re sucking from the government teat. And if even the vaguest suspicion arises based on an audit you are automatically removed from office until either convicted of acquitted. Conviction of misfeasance or malfeasance in office is a life term at hard labor, since you stole from the taxpayers who entrusted you with that position, which you violated.
Naw, this is all a nice little fantasy. It would most probably end with a return to some form of feudalism, either on the state or more local level. Western civilization would fall without the economic and military force of the United States to keep that fragile web of international (and inter-state) trade together.
“They then make it known that everyone who voted …….”
I imagine “They” would be rounded up or killed ASAP by whoever was left in some power position in the government. I doubt the military would allow a coup that decapitated an elected government.
The economy would take a nosedive. State and local officials would try and maintain some order but would be targets for the opposition. Some would crack down hard on the rebels, others might embrace the cause. No side would want chaos or anarchy.
I hope never to see that.