An astonishing 29 percent of the American population thinks that armed revolt might soon be necessary to protect our liberties. Unsurprisingly, those numbers are much higher among conservatives and those without much education. However, 18 percent of Democratic Party members agreed as well, and the percentage among independents is pretty high as well; 27 percent.

This goes to show that the sensationalistic endorsement of fringe conspiracy theories that are driven forward in the name of freedom and small government by the conservative right are starting to take hold. The history of politics has shown us time and time again that the words that win vocabulary dominance can end up influencing or deciding which way public support goes — and the Republican side of things has proven itself to be quite effective of making use of fear as a motivator, especially through their propaganda wing, Fox News.





TPM reports, including some useful tables lifted from the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll:

Eighteen percent of Democrats said an armed revolt “might be necessary,” as compared to 27 percent of independents and 44 percent of Republicans. Support levels were similar among males and females but higher among less educated voters. The poll also found that 25 percent of voters believe the American public is being lied to about the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting by people seeking to promote a political agenda. An additional 11 percent said they weren’t sure.

That’s absolutely crazy. Armed revolt?

I won’t even go into the Sandy Hook truther thing…I don’t have the words.

I’m assuming that the conservative interpretation consists of armed revolt against the United States government. Uh, good luck with that — personally, I’m going to stay home and stick to shooting at bad guys on my TV. Why? Because your assault rifles aren’t tanks or jets, and I’m pretty sure that an armed insurrection would have a hard time of it. The only reason an armed insurrection would work is because it has near-unanimous support from the people, and if there’s that then the revolution could be peaceful and accomplish the same thing. Violence isn’t necessary.