Is America on the Verge of Revolution? — Market Mad House

Daniel G. Jennings
Lessons from History
7 min readJul 14, 2020

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America could be on the verge of revolution. I think the United States in 2020 displays some disturbing similarities to France in 1789 (the year of its revolution).

Observers as diverse as Rod Dreher, Michael Moore, and Brett Weinstein note the revolutionary nature of the events on American streets. In particular, the burning of police stations, seizure of areas of cities, and toppling of statues is the behavior of a revolutionary mob, not a protest.

For instance, one if the first events of the American Revolution in New York City was the destruction of a statue of King George III. On 9 July 1776, a mob of patriots celebrated the newly signed Declaration of Independence by pulling down and smashing a statue of the King on the city’s Bowling Green.

The patriots melted most of the statue down to make bullets for George Washington’s troops to fire at the King’s soldiers. However, Untapped New York claims pieces of the statue still exist.

Is it a Revolution?

We need to fear attacks on statues because revolutions are revolts of the powerless. Revolutionaries attack statues of dead leaders because they are symbols of power.

Revolutions begin when some group realizes it is powerless or fears it is powerless. The…

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Daniel G. Jennings
Lessons from History

Daniel G. Jennings is a writer who lives and works in Colorado. He is a lifelong history buff who is fascinated by stocks, politics, and cryptocurrency.