A French Style Revolution in USA Possible in the Near Future?

I came across this video today from TED Talks where self proclaimed "plutocrat" Nick Hanauer addresses the issue of rising inequality in America. In the video he says that if America continues on it's current course the wealth gap will continue to get worse and America will resemble pre-revolutionary France which could in turn will lead to revolution.

Nick Hanauer TED Talk

I couldn't agree with him more, there are many similarities between current America and Pre-Revolution France. I like his idea on how hiking the minimum wage would potentially fix this problem, however I personally think it's a little too late for that which I'll get into later.

From my reading on good ole Wikipedia it seems the main Causes of the French Revolution were National Debt, Income Inequality/Repression, and Famine. America is experiencing two at the moment and very well could experience the third.

First, the National Debt In pre-revolutionary France King Louis XV and Louis XVI dramatically increased France's National Debt because of their policies. The accumulation of debt is credited to the Seven Years War and the American War for Independence, spending on building a large navy after the Seven Years War, and spending on government/monarchy infrastructure at Versailles. Because the budget deficit was so large and most of it was borrowed from foreign powers Louis XV had to raise taxes which of course angered the people of France. Of course as a consequence of large debt inflation struck the country as well.

There are many similarities between France's debt situation in the late 18th century and America's now. Under Obama's administration we have now topped 18 Trillion Dollars in National Debt that doesn't include social security, medicaid, medicare and other unfunded liabilities. George Bush Jr. before him nearly doubled the national debt while he was in office to $10 Trillion and Obama is right on course of doing the same. The accumulation of this debt is due to spending on the war on terrorism, the bailouts, and now the ACA. Of course just like in France if our debts are reigned in (in the form of countries cashing in treasuries) inflation will occur as well.

Second, Income Inequality and Repression: In 18th century France one of the main reasons for the hatred of the upper class nobility was a semi feudal social structure in place. Basically the nobles had such a tight hold on the King and the government of France that their special interests trumped the interests of the peasants of France. The nobles held the majority of land, could claim immunity to taxes, and the peasants had to pay fees to nobility through landlords and parishes.

The similarity between this and America isn't hard to see. The Oil Kings, Bankers, and other big company CEO's have their hands in the pockets of our branches of government. Anyone that opposes a bill that threatens them and their power is likely to lose campaign funding. Tax cuts for the rich because of G.W. Bush's "trickle down" ideology mirrors that of France's Nobles. There's also many deductibles and tax incentives they can claim as well. These tax cuts also helped the National Debt accumulate on a higher level too.

Now finally the ridiculous CEO to Average worker pay. It is no secret to this site that since the 1980's CEO pay has dramatically risen in comparison to average pay. For instance it can be up to 300x the average worker at least in the case of these top 350 companies. Compare that to minimum wage which goes up a dollar or two every 5 years or so. You can see also this income inequality in the market. The main street economy of the past 6 years has been lackluster, unemployment is still high, and many good jobs have been eroded by outsourcing and replaced with lower wage jobs. While the stock market is at all time highs in the 17,000 range. The out of touch stock brokers then wonder why consumer spending during the Black Friday weekend was down 11%.

Finally the Famine: one huge motivator for any revolution is food. If the people are not fed you can expect riots and this was the case in pre-revolutionary France. A course of crop failures due to poor growing conditions and the possibility of the nobles hoarding food lead to high food prices and hungry peasants.

This last one thankfully hasn't happened in America yet and because of our large ag industry, likely wont. However, if things in California and other drought stricken parts of the country don't improve it could potentially drive prices up in the near future. Competition for water because of fracking could cause some some food production problems as well. Although famine was a huge part of the French Revolution there are other ways the lower class in America could face hunger and that's through inflation and job scarcity. All it would take is one more economic crash.

If the economy crashes one more time we likely wont be able to stall it like in 2008. With all the debt the government and the people are in, the lack of good jobs and just jobs in general, the erosion of the middle class, the economic slowdown in Europe, the Chinese economy overtaking the US, our trade deficit, and the huge drop in oil, the move away from the petrodollar, it is likely that a new economic crash is coming soon. This crash could trigger a famine like effect where people just don't have any money to buy the things they need.

Overall from the conclusions I have drawn I believe the United States could be headed in a similar path as Pre-Revolutionary France. Though I sincerely hope we don't take a destructive and violent path as they did. Without the proper reforms as Nick Hanauer put it "it's only a question of when it will occur". Personally I think we need some sort of revolution (preferably a non-violent one), and not to change the founding documents but rather to actually honor what they say.

The only revolution I see brewing in America, is one that is manufactured through race baiting and the typical usage of divide and conquer.......come to think of it, yeah very much like the French Revolution.

Who's to say the powers that be don't want it either?

The French Revolution sure benefited Napoleon.

a reply to: asmall89

I think it would come down to the severity of disadvantageous situations and the public perspective thereof. I would say that events must be great enough to impact a significant proportion of a nation-state's population, and that the population must be able to band together and challenge authority for any type of revolution in a globalised society to occur.

Do you think that Americans will be able to form a strong enough force to overthrow the government? I would say that the USA's position and the peoples' mindsets must change before any significant revolutionary attempt were to occur. I just don't see it happening right now, nor in the near future. Nothing will change until significant events force people to stand up, band together, and change their perspectives and actions. Only then, will the prospects of a revolution would be possible.

I hope so.

If the USA rises the UK will rise with it.

OP, I suggest you missed one of the major causes.

That was the attempt to control information by restricting and banning books. It was a very significant part of the causations of the revolution.

Today in the US, similar forces are at work. The NSA and all levels of government and LEOs are controlling and spreading their perverse fingers through the private mail and thus lives of the citizens.

It is a major force for upheaval and while in itself may not start such a revolution, it will play a major role.

It is a Government trying to repress the people. It is big business fighting to make more and more insane profits on top of already bulging fat purses.

P

a reply to: asmall89

I doubt a revolution could happen, nor would I support such a move - the American constitution is too strong and has been such a guiding light for freedom and equality in the world to overturn its electoral process provisions. Elected federal offices are there to stay, no matter who occupies them. America does need change, and one aspect of the economy I can't understand is why there isn't a very minimal tax on stock transactions, which could fund homes for the homeless and food for the hungry or malnourished. But a full-on French revolution type of scenario seems out of the question, in terms of success or right-intention being brought about by violence.

a reply to: asmall89
One thing is missing which the French and Russian revolutions had.
A clear and visible (and legally defined) boundary line between who was in the aristocracy and who was not.
In Britain there was no clear dividing line, but a whole spectrum of different degrees of status, and that is one reason why there was no revolution.
America is in a similar position. At the local level, the boundary between elite and non-elite is too fuzzy to provide clearly definable targets.

P.S. It could happen as a race war, which can work on visible distinctions, but in that case "the elite" would mean "everybody who was white".

a reply to: asmall89

I would only want to see it if we did it smarter than the French did. Some really great, brilliant people popped up during the French Revolution but we're ultimately drowned out by mob mentality and then at the bloody end of it people had enough of bloodshed and were perfectly willing to accept authority again.

We'd need a second Age of Enlightenment as well to inspire us and we seem to not ever quite get there, we get close then the majority who are traditionalists throw enough disinformation out that it becomes subdued again.

originally posted by: asmall89
Who's to say the powers that be don't want it either?

The French Revolution sure benefited Napoleon.

Using Napoleon as an example is not a very good idea.

originally posted by: asmall89
Who's to say the powers that be don't want it either?
The French Revolution sure benefited Napoleon.

The massive flaw in this analogy is that Napolean was not a "power that be" before the revolution. He was too young and unimportant.
The revolution obviously destroyed one set of "powers that be" and replaced them with a different set.

a reply to: Aleister

A person pays taxes on the money they use to purchase stock to begin with. Putting a tax on every transaction is a good way to stop people from investing money in the market. I can't understand why people think it's fair to tax the same money over and over and over again.

a reply to: crazyewok

You are forgetting the Reign of Terror. Or are you hoping for that too? The end of anyone who "oppose" revolution, including christians, humanists, pacifists, scientists? The creation of a new evil?

I like french style green beans. Oh, how so off topic.

The French are still living in a highly deceptive society, they just do not realize it.

a reply to: Aleister

The Constitution doesn't need to be thwarted in order for a revolution to happen.

Maybe so... But we have decent Wine to drown our sorrows with.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

"2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years"

In the Report author Jorgen Randers raises essential questions: How many people will the planet be able to support? Will the belief in endless growth crumble? Will runaway climate change take hold? Where will quality of life improve, and where will it decline? Using painstaking research, and drawing on contributions from more than 30 thinkers in the field

Although focusing majorly on population demographics and climate the presentation explains some fundamental facts concerning inflation and how ultimatly a greater and greater number of not only Americans will effectively keep becoming poorer and poorer, mathematically there is simply no way out of it.

It is not sustainable people are deluding themselves if they think otherwise.

this is a for sure.
We the working class already do everything neccessary to run
power plants hospitals and factories. There are only a handful of suits at the top that receive
ridiculous salaries. They don't know how to run these behemoths. Remove Suits in a downward fashion
until the next suit says Uncle. TPTB really hope we don't realize this incredibly simple fact.

With respect to the third requirement of "Famine".....

In 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 33.3 million adults and 15.8 million children.

www.feedingamerica.org...

I believe that this statistic shows that that requirement has been satisfied.