Lord, you've got it right, that a Revolution (you mention Reagan's) CAN be NON-violent --- and only a "Political Revolution"! You should clue-in the NYT (and many of the others in the media):

Here’s my comment to the NYT article by Ashley Parker, “Some Trump Voters Warn of Revolution”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/us/politics/don...

“The New York Times and Ashley Parker, in this NYT article (and on CNN this morning) are doing a great and dangerous disservice to the American people in ‘ginning-up’ the “dark fear … of violence” that Revolution is inexorably violent.

The First (and only successful) American “Political Revolution against EMPIRE” 240 years ago was initially and attempted to stay a NON-violent Revolution in separating from the British Empire for very justifiable, and very carefully articulated, reasons —- as defined in our ‘Declaration of Independence’ from EMPIRE.

Just as Bernie Sanders’ well inspired, but weak and incomplete, “Political Revolution” (although missing an ‘object’) —- “against what? Against WTF? Bernie” —- was partially focused on firing a; loud, sustained, public, but peaceful “Shout (not shot) heard around the world”, which “coulda been a contender” if Bernie had completed the non-violent progressive ‘action sentence’ to ignite a Second American “Political Revolution against Empire”
—- this time against this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire that has ‘captured’, controls, and merely ‘poses’ as our formerly proud and sometimes progressive ‘experiment in democracy’.

I hate to be a Paine, but, “Give me Liberty from Empire, or Give me Death”

Thank you, Lord

BTW, Lord, --- you're a damn good writer,

Alan

Many Americans, if they have any curiosity at all, probably think that any old fashioned societies that collapsed were just stupid.

And yet although most would laugh at the Easter Inlanders and think, "how could they be so dumb to waste all their efforts and resources just to build those big statues, when it gained nothing (even for the chiefs) and cost them all to die and their pleasant South Seas civilization to collapse?" After all, modern Americans might say, "what's the value in those old fashioned dumb big statues?"

Yes the collapse of Easter Inland was horrific as Jared Diamond notes in his epic work:

"The Easter Islanders’ isolation probably also explains why I have found that their collapse, more than the collapse of any other pre-industrial society, haunts my readers and students. The parallels between Easter Island and the whole modern world are chillingly obvious. Thanks to globalization, international trade, jet planes, and the Internet, all countries on Earth today share resources and affect each other, just as did Easter’s dozen clans. Polynesian Easter Island was as isolated in the Pacific Ocean as the Earth is today in space. When the Easter Islanders got into difficulties, there was nowhere to which they could flee, nor to which they could turn for help; nor shall we modern Earthlings have recourse elsewhere if our troubles increase."

But the drive for Empire and the emoluments and symbols of Empire-builder power are no less stupid in America and the Disguised Global Capitalist Empire --- HQed in and merely 'posing' as our former country today.

The Easter Islander Chiefs' largest statues were at least physical monuments and real things, whereas money today is merely symbolic and the collection of the biggest pile of electronic money today doesn't even really exist ---- and yet we the average people are allowing our entire world to be destroyed just so that the < 0.01% deci-billionaires can collect the most of this electronic mirage which doesn't even exist.

So who's stupid now?

To correct and paraphrase the old saying, "The enemy of the Empire oppressing all my brothers must be all of us"

Against the minute ruling-elite singularity of sovereignty by this one disguised global Empire we must all reestablish the democratic sovereignty of we the people.

The long division of people by Empire equals negative infinity.

While Justin may well be correct when he says, "the Islamic State metastasized in Syria", the far more important and dangerous metastasis happened in the US when, over the last decade our former country 'metastasized' into this current and first truly Disguised Global (crony) Capitalist EMPIRE, which is only 'posing' as, and HQed in, our former democratic Republic.

The disease of Republics is the cancer of Empire --- and this one is a massive Global tumor of "Cancer, the Empire of all Maladies" in the final stage/phase of Empire.

As Zygmunt Bauman hauntingly puts it, “In the case of an ailing social order, the absence of an adequate diagnosis…is a crucial, perhaps decisive, part of the disease.”13

Berman, Morris (2011-02-07). Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire (p. 22). Norton. Kindle Edition.

The spread of uncontrolled Global Capitalism is indeed the Final Phase of Empire.

"The U.S. state is a key point of condensation for pressures from dominant groups around the world to resolve problems of global capitalism and to secure the legitimacy of the system overall. In this regard, “U.S.” imperialism refers to the use by transnational elites of the U.S. state apparatus to continue to attempt to expand, defend, and stabilize the global capitalist system. We are witness less to a “U.S.” imperialism per se than to a global capitalist imperialism. We face an EMPIRE of global capital, headquartered, for evident historical reasons, in Washington." [Caps substituted for italics in the original]

Robinson, William I. (2014-07-31). Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity (p. 122). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

The phrase in that Defense Intelligence Agency analysis that Justin quotes as "similar to what transpired in Libya when Benghazi was chosen as the command center for the temporary government” --- instantly made me similarly think that Goebbels might well have said the exact same thing to Hitler in 1940 about the Nazi Empire's captured and "Occupied" France:

"Mein Fuhrer, we could disguise our Nazi Empire in France when Vichy was chosen as the command center for the temporary government.”

Just sayin --- history does repeat itself, particularly when 'Occupying" Empires try to disguise their 'Empire nature'.

But, of course, Secret Agent 008, infamously, but emphatically, said, while bombing civilian women and children in Libya, "We're NOT there for Empire" --- just as the Land Shark in the SNL skit answered when asked, "Who's there?" outside Gilda Radner's apartment door, "It's NOT the Land Shark"

The only way to EFFECTIVELY protest NON-violently is to publicly, loudly, and continually; ''call-out', expose, and educate Americans that the US is acting like an EMPIRE abroad and TYRANNY at home.

Signs and protesting needs to be focused on 'shouting-out':

"Stop the EMPIRE"
"OCCUPY THE EMPIRE"
END ELITIST EMPIRE

END TYRANNY!
Terminate TYRANNY

Liberty, democracy, equality, justice
Over
Violent/Vichy
Empire

Emanuele is absolutely on-target regarding the Empire.

Not only is "Black Culture Not the Problem", but the black community, being the most politically conscious in America, is the leading 'Answer' to the Disguised Global Capitalist/hustler Empire that has been keeping most Americans thinking that they live as 'citizens' in any kind of functional democracy and keeping them deluded, propagandized, and blind to the fact that they are being treated as, and oppressed as, virtual 'subjects' of this not-so-virtual Empire that is only 'posing' as our formerly democratic Republic.

Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the Previously disguised Empire, many other groups are catching on to what the black community understands in its DNA, and experiences all too often under this Empire. Every day, larger groups such as; the poor, the unemployed, the working poor, the slipping middle classes, and the 47% that Romney said the system (of Empire) could ignore ARE fast beginning to see, experience, and understand, like the black community, that they are essentially 'subjects' of an Empire and not citizens of any kind of functional democracy. Empire (including this modern and innovative disguised dual-party Vichy-political facade of an Empire) is on the wrong side of history as more Americans realize this truth.

AS I commented on the NYT article, "Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation on Uranium Deal with Russia":

The Clintons are strong believers in what Francis Fukuyama once naively called "free market capitalist democracy" in his pivotal work, "The End of History" --- and they are also strong believers in what Tom Friedman naively promoted as "globalization", and Thomas Barnett not so naively called "The Pentagon's New Map", which more accurately should have been titled "The Global Empire's New Map".

However, the Clinton's, although positioned politically to be shakers and movers in the global arena of forging the Disguised Global Capitalist Empire were not able to be among the money 'players' --- but were very possibly the best positioned couple in the world to facilitate, and help disguise the birthing of this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire merely 'posing' as, and HQed in, our former country.

Thus, it might be quite accurate, if not polite, to say that Hillary became a grandmother earlier to something more significant, and less cute, than Chelsea's daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.

Liberty, democracy, justice, and equality
Over
Violent/Vichy
Empire,

Alan MacDonald
Wells, Maine

The Disguised Global Capitalist Empire merely 'posing' as, and HQed in, the US does not depend on its 'comparative advantage' of militarist-sector of hard power for world domination --- but on its financial-sector (and somewhat lesser corporate-sector) of the Disguised Empire to gain and maintain world domination --- which is uniquely accomplished through both its "EXORBITANT PRIVILEGE" [Eichengreen, Barry], and this transnational disguised Empire's leverage of the hidden 'comparative advantage' of being able to quietly make more short-term profits by producing more 'negative externality costs' than the rest of the world, and dumping its 'negative externality costs' on "others" outside the Empire --- which means not only in other former countries, but inside the Vonnegutian 'granfalloon' of the US..

Netanyahu and Obama are just the political puppet WWF actors in this Empire drama.

The nature of that Enduring and Unbreakable Relationship:

The enduring and unbreakable relationship between the US and Israel is most accurately described as the relationship between the metropole/HQ of the Disguised Global Capitalist Empire (only 'posing' as Vichy America) and its critically important border-fort of Empire, "Vichy Israel".

Of course, adhering to such an enduring relationship is much more dangerous for the 'border-fort' of the DGCEmpire than for the metropole of the Empire.