I was reading The Tipping Point a few weeks back and in the section on the turnign of crime in NYC, I thought up something. The people are content because the government provides for their security, and the security of their bread and circus. The legitimacy of the government lie not in the election (we all know how low the voter turnouts are), but in the security it provides to the people. As long as people continue to believe that the government can provide for their every security (including that of material welfare), we will continue our current decline.

Which brings me to the question, what can be done? Of course some may advocate for what McVeigh did, and as much as I sympathize with his anger toward the federal government, I don't think blowing up federal buildings will be a solution. And of course armed rebellion is practically impossible, since the government has far greater fire power than any civilian militia. At this point, the political process still seems the most viable way to fix our system. However, the day draws near when that may no longer be an option. So I was wondering, what will happen when our options run out?

This was what I came up with, if the people can be made to realize that the government is not just bloated, corrupt, and abusive, that the government is actually less able to provide for their defense than they thought, maybe they would be sufficiently disillusioned to seek change. One way to do this is through education, but since the government controls public education, the conversion won't happen on a mass scale that way. Reading the history of the crime wave that hit NYC in the 80s, I thought, what if, it is possible to reverse the tipping point, and create an environment conducive to crime such that it overwelms police resources to handle them. You yourself don't have to do much or commit any crimes, but just perhaps redecorate the neighborhood a bit differently, create a perception of lawlessness. This has been shown to be incredibly powerful psychological stimulus to the criminal mind, tipping the borderline criminal into action. Write op ed articles articulating the perception of disorder, create fear among the populace. This is a self feeding chain reaction, crime breeds more crime and with insecurity and fear comes discontent. The citizens will realize that the government doesn't work and have failed to protect them. Maybe then we'll see a real change. We don't have to blow up buildings or kill people to change things, just conduct psy ops against the government.

[Edited to add, this is just an idea. I want discussion, not actually someone carry this out at the present]

Not only have I read the book, I posted a topic on it:
[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=90630[/url]

I don't think that encouraging crime would do much to undermine the government.  Look around America today: areas of high crime, such as DC and Detroit, are bastions of statism.  Or just look at how the insecurity created by the 9/11 attacks has made many Americans more willing to sacrifice their liberties.