Will revolutionary change come to America?

It has been nearly 250 years since the founding of the Republic and since that time we have seen many political changes, but we have never seen a genuine Second American Revolution.  But could we be on the cusp of such an event today?

In December of 1774, a twenty-something year-old immigrant from the Caribbean Island of Nevis by the name of Alexander Hamilton was a student at King’s College in New York City, studying law, political science, humanities, and philosophy.  At the time, Revolution was in the air.  The British Empire was mercilessly oppressing the enterprising American Colonists through unfair systems of taxation and other economic and political policies.  The Colonists, nearly all of whom felt a fond allegiance to the British Empire, asked merely for a seat at the table when decisions were made which effected their well-being.  They didn’t necessarily want to revolt, they merely wanted to be respected and treated fairly.

Yet the British Empire turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to their entreaties.  As discontent simmered, and the Colonists began to display signs of outright revolt, the young Hamilton penned a highly influential essay on December 15, 1774,  entitled, “A Full Vindication”.  In this essay, Hamilton explained the nature of the dilemma faced by the Colonists as follows:

In the infancy of the present dispute . . . we addressed the throne in the most loyal and respectful manner, in a legislative capacity. But what was the consequence? Our address was treated with contempt and neglect. The first American Congress did the same and met with similar treatment. The total repeal of the Stamp Act and the partial repeal of the Revenue Acts took place not because the complaints of America were deemed just and reasonable, but because these acts were found to militate against the commercial interests of Great Britain. This was the declared motive of the repeal.

The Colonists tried every respectful, civil, and lawful means to get the British Empire to take their concerns seriously and treat them with respect.  But all the Colonists got in return was scorn, derision, and more tyranny.  Hamilton gave voice to the way the Colonists were feeling about the situation in the following terms:

Whence arises that violent antipathy they seem to entertain, not only to the natural rights of mankind, but to common-sense and common modesty? That they [the British] are enemies to the natural rights of mankind is manifest, because they wish to see one part of their species enslaved by another. That they have an invincible aversion to common-sense is apparent in many respects: they endeavor to persuade us that the absolute sovereignty of Parliament does not imply our absolute slavery; that it is a Christian duty to submit to be plundered of all we have, merely because some of our fellow subjects are wicked enough to require it of us; that slavery, so far from being a great evil, is a great blessing; and even that our contest with Britain is founded entirely upon the petty duty of three pence per pound on East India tea, whereas the whole world knows it is built upon this interesting question, whether the inhabitants of Great Britain have a right to dispose of the lives and properties of the inhabitants of America, or not.

And lastly, that these men have discarded all pretension to common modesty is clear from hence: first, because they, in their plainest terms, call an august body of men famed for their patriotism and abilities fools or knaves; and, of course, the people whom they represented cannot be exempt from the same opprobrious appellations; and secondly, because they set themselves up as the standards of wisdom and probity by contradicting and insuring the public voice in favor of those men.

If we translate verbosity of Hamilton’s 18^th century locutions to basic 21^st century American English, here in a nutshell is what he was saying:  The British Empire is being a bunch of assholes, they talk shit about us all the time, they don’t respect us, they don’t respect our leaders, they tax the hell out of us, they oppress us, and then tell us we should be grateful for the opportunity to be getting screwed by them.

Sound familiar?

For reasons that are not entirely clear, Trump 2.0 has been characterized by the most extreme forms of tyrannical action.  The federal government, whose leaders were only elected by the barest of popular mandates, routinely trash, belittle, and defame good public servants throughout America.  The federal government imposes tyrannical tariffs—which no one asked for and no one wanted—that kill jobs and make everything more expensive.   The Trump Administration gives the largest tax cuts to the wealthiest among us and does nothing to make life affordable for the People. Meanwhile, Trump’s personal net worth has DOUBLED since he took office, and he continues to waste taxpayer money on expensive vanity projects (such as the destruction of the East Wing of the White House) which bring no benefit to the People.  

As if this wasn’t enough, the federal government continues to build and expand an unaccountable army of armed, masked, federal agents, roaming the streets and communities of America, doing violence to the Constitution, the rights of the Citizens, and bringing needless pain and suffering to hardworking immigrants (and this doesn’t even mention Trump’s efforts to suppress the release of the Epstein files, or the many other injustices he has engaged in). 

And no matter how bad these policies make things, Trump the Tyrant tells us he will do it even more because he can never admit he is wrong and that he is screwing America up; Trump would rather see America go down in flames, than admit he is a failure.

The People today, in a manner similar to the Colonists in the 18^th Century, do not seem to be very pleased with any of this.  In each and every election since the start of Trump 2.0, we have seen massive and unprecedented shifts in the electorate, rejecting the tyrannical abuses of the Trump Administration, voting in favor of the opposition party (even though that opposition party, the Democratic Party, has plenty of problems of its own).  In poll after poll, the American People continue to register their increasing displeasure with President Trump’s escalating acts of tyranny and his dismal economic performance on every level. 

In “A Full Vindication,” Hamilton expressed the sentiment that many of the Colonists in the 18^th Century were feeling as a result of the actions of the British Empire as follows:

The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists in this. In the former state, a man is governed by the laws to which he has given his consent, either in person or by his representative. In the latter, he is governed by the will of another. In the one case, his life and property are his own. In the other, they depend upon the pleasure of his master. It is easy to discern which of these two states is preferable. No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free rather than a slave. That Americans are entitled to freedom is incontestable in every rational principle. All men have one common original. They participate in one common nature and consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why one man should exercise any power or preeminence over his fellow creatures more than another, unless they have voluntarily vested him with it. Since then, Americans have not, by any act of theirs, empowered the British Parliament to make laws for them, it follows they can have no just authority to do it.

During the 2024 Presidential election, Trump convinced a bare majority of voters that he would create jobs, lower prices, respect civil liberties, the rights of the states, and “Make America Great Again.”  But he has done none of these things and has embarked on a course of action that the People did not agree to.  Trump has pulled a classic "bait and switch" on the American people, and deceived them as to his true motives. Thus, he has nullified any consent which was given to him. Today, only a dwindling minority of the most hard right extremists approve of Trump’s tyrannical tactics, and their numbers continue to shrink as things get worse.  

Trump shows no signs of letting up; if anything, each day he vows to push harder and harder in his efforts to crush dissent, attack states' rights and civil liberties, decimate the economy, and shred the Constitutional guarantees that have made America the envy of the world. This continued tyranny creates conditions which could lead to revolutionary change in America.