> i find US fascination with their theoretical ability to fight their government with small arms adorable and misguided.
There's a difference between "fight" and "defeat". Anyone who thinks that a motley band of citizens with small arms is going to force the government to surrender is delusional. What they can do is make martial law very costly, by turning the country into a war zone (see also: Afghanistan).
The government really does get its power from consent of the governed. It may not seem that way, but most people are happy enough just to have stability, that they're going to stand by and keep their head down. But with a sufficiently armed populace, maintaining stability becomes simply impossible, which makes maintaining political favor an impossibility. The idea of a military coup is that you take control of a nation, not that you inherit a war zone.
Small arms aren't about winning, they're about making certain actions too politically costly. I have a tough time imagining the CCP's recent actions in Hong Kong, or the Uighur genocide, working so well if they were armed like the US. Arms necessitate boiling the frog.
There's a difference between "fight" and "defeat". Anyone who thinks that a motley band of citizens with small arms is going to force the government to surrender is delusional. What they can do is make martial law very costly, by turning the country into a war zone (see also: Afghanistan).
The government really does get its power from consent of the governed. It may not seem that way, but most people are happy enough just to have stability, that they're going to stand by and keep their head down. But with a sufficiently armed populace, maintaining stability becomes simply impossible, which makes maintaining political favor an impossibility. The idea of a military coup is that you take control of a nation, not that you inherit a war zone.
Small arms aren't about winning, they're about making certain actions too politically costly. I have a tough time imagining the CCP's recent actions in Hong Kong, or the Uighur genocide, working so well if they were armed like the US. Arms necessitate boiling the frog.