I can’t say I’m completely comfortable with all of Mantia’s argument, but it’s certainly got me thinking. A few bits that caught my attention:

In the Declaration of Independence, the founders wrote a long train of abuses by the King to justify their actions. Some may feel …unfortunately relevant today:

• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone […]
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power
• For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us […]
• […] For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world

And

And so, believing that violence is never justified only makes you vulnerable to those who believe it is.

That’s how it’s always been. If the government successfully convinces civilians that violence is never justified, then it gets to maintain its own monopoly on violence, legalizing the atrocities it commits itself, while punishing everyone else for what civilians have always had the right to do.

It’s right there, in the founding document of the nation, that it is the right and duty of civilians to overthrow any government that systemically infringes on its rights.

By all rights, I’m a firmly non-violent person. I even sometimes bristle at the notion that the best thing to do with a Nazi is punch them. It seems so barbaric, sure to escalate, and unnecessary when words and logic exist. But I have to admit that when words, logic, and compassion fall on intentionally-deaf ears, other options start to look more reasonable.