In a recent poll on YouGov, a popular international polling medium, 290 people out of 1000 polled domestically said they would support a military coup in the United States of America. Anyone with a pulse, if asked today, would agree that America has become incredibly divided politically. But a coup? Now, this is an interesting turn of events. Has America really become so polarized that 29% of the public, which represents 70 million people on the national level, would happily throw our elected officials out of office by force, together with our representative form of government?
Perhaps, it would be better to look at how military coups against dysfunctional governments have fared for other previously democratic countries in history. In 1973, a military coup in Chile successfully ousted an openly socialist leader, but it left the country with an unelected military dictator until early 1990, almost 26 years later. During this time, elections were suspended, along with basic human liberties, and 3000 people were killed on top of those lost during the coup.
Military coups and violent revolutions rarely succeed in implementing meaningful change. Yes, history shows exceptions to this rule, such as the founding of our nation and our military-style revolution against the oppressive English government. But these success stories are few and far between. Often, a country is left with something much worse than what they originally revolted against, which is evident in any broad study of the French Revolution against monarchical rule in 1787, which essentially brought to power Napoleon Bonaparte, who eventually named himself king and dictator of France.
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