20 Signs America is Headed Towards Civil War, Revolution, or Dictatorship

Although there are exceptions, when a human being gets sick enough to die, it usually doesn’t happen overnight. There are obviously lots of signs that a person is moving in that direction. They’re getting old. Maybe they’ve had a heart attack before. They have type two diabetes. They get bed bound. They get overweight. They fall and they can’t get up. They get frail. We could go on and on with these and they’re no great mystery. That being said, sometimes one of these signs occurs, and… nothing. The person just continues on like nothing ever happened or alternately, best case scenario, they may even be inspired to get healthy again.

Well, a country is a little like that, too, except its “life” plays out over a much longer time frame. On the upside, that means a nation often has much longer to correct a problem than a person does. Of course, on the other hand, it can also be much harder to correct those problems because, with a person, one human being is the decision maker, while the United States currently has more than 330 million people influencing how things play out.

If we’re looking for signs that America is deeply unhealthy and getting into dangerous territory that could lead to a civil war, revolution, or dictatorship, we’ll find some of them already in place, while others seem as if they’re just over the horizon, and some other signs haven’t happened… yet. Still, if you’re looking for signs that America could be headed a civil war, revolution or dictatorship, here’s what to look for.

1) The Supreme Court becomes packed by one political party: Having one party add a large number of seats to the Supreme Court to fill with their own appointees would destroy the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and would essentially mean the Constitution was dead.

2) The filibuster for legislation in the Senate goes away: This would make the United States into much more of a pure, unstable democracy except for the Supreme Court, which would likely be packed soon after. Once whoever is in power can rewrite the rules at will, a dictatorship would be highly likely to occur relatively soon and if the party in charge didn’t do it, the other party would be smart to do it if they regained control.

3) If people lose faith in the honesty of elections: We have certainly had some of this in recent years with Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and most notably, Donald Trump claiming their election results weren’t honest. It doesn’t feel like we’re at a tipping point yet, but if we get to the point where the majority of the population simply doesn’t believe their votes are being honestly counted, then some of those people are likely to turn to violent means to have their voices heard.

4) National debt becoming unmanageable: It’s no secret that our national debt is huge, climbing faster and is unsustainable, but what would signs be that it’s becoming unmanageable?

Interest payments on the debt become larger than Medicare, Social Security, or defense. Being unable to sell most of our debt to anyone but the Fed. Paying out more in interest on the debt than the government is receiving in tax revenue. Trying to cover our debts with an imaginary “trillion-dollar coin” made up from scratch by the Treasury. Defaulting on our debts because we were incapable of paying them off.

We could go on with this and it’s worth noting that we have already hit some of these markers for brief periods. Excessive debt wouldn’t just destroy the American economy, it could be a tremendous motivator for states or regions to break away from the United States to try to get out from under the obligation to pay that debt at some point.

5) Widespread unemployment: Although it’s too early to say for sure, there does seem to be a real possibility that AI, robots, and drones will take over an enormous number of jobs currently held by human beings. If we get to the point where a significant percentage of the population cannot work because there simply are no jobs for them to fill, it raises the question of what will happen to those people and how they’ll behave.

Many times, in the past, having large numbers of young men with no jobs, no prospects, and not a lot of money have led to society wide violence, unrest, and instability. Would that be what happened in America? It’s impossible to say with certainty, but the best guess would have to be, “Yes.”

6) A state or region seceding: If we get to the point where there are states that want out, it will obviously be a really bad sign.

7) A significant portion of the military being foreign born: This ended up being a key factor in the fall of the Roman Empire and it’s highly dangerous for any nation.

8) Widely increasing disorder: If the sort of riots we saw across the country in 2020 became more common or alternately if the sort of regular disorder we see in Portland from ANTIFA were to become regular and widespread across the country, it would lead people to look for a new government strong enough to bring order.

If drug cartels, militias, or terrorist groups started creating havoc across a large area without the government being able to counter them, it would also be a problem. When the state doesn’t have a monopoly on force, it invites other groups to fill the gap.

9) States simply refuse to obey federal laws: We’ve had some of this on a small scale, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see it dramatically escalate, especially if the Supreme Court is ever stacked.

10) Large numbers of Americans, particularly wealthy Americans moving to other countries: There are always some Americans leaving the country, but if that trickle turns into a flood, it’s a sign people can see the handwriting on the wall.

11) The state confiscating private businesses: In failing nations, you sometimes see the state take over private industries either as a sop to the public, because the industry isn’t loyal enough to the government, or because the state has made it impossible for the business to function but refuses to admit it. This tends to be a last-ditch effort and not only does it usually fail, but it also often drives other investment and industry out of the country.

12) We have a major, extended economic crash: Every time there’s a downturn in the economy, we hear about it being as bad as the Depression, but a real Depression or similarly bad economic times would put an enormous amount of stress on the country.

Keep in mind that the real Great Depression lasted a little over a decade, the unemployment rate went over 20%, there were massive bank failures, a huge stock market crash, and prices, along with productivity, dropped by 1/3.

13) America loses its reserve currency status: If the rest of the world moves away from using the dollar as a reserve currency, it would limit America’s ability to print so much of our currency, it would reduce America’s soft power, and it would be likely to cause a severe economic contraction that would put an enormous amount of pressure on the country.

14) Widespread moral decay and radicalism: Arguably, we’ve already reached this marker with the trans epidemic, promotion of gayness, lack of protection for children, widespread degeneracy, etc. Granted, it could always get worse, but once you’ve moved from one of the most moral to one of the most immoral cultures on the planet, this box has been checked.

15) A severely disruptive catastrophe: We’re talking about a nuclear bomb, EMP, dirty bomb, chemical attack, biological attack significantly more severe than COVID, or something else that incapacitates a significant portion of the population or an important state/region. The economic cost would be staggering, it would be difficult to fully help the people most impacted and the pressures created by the event would have the potential to help crack the country open.

16) Extreme centralization and bureaucracy: Unfortunately, America is quite far down this road, which is something frequently seen in civilizations headed for a collapse. The bigger the government gets, the slower, more inefficient, and more expensive it gets and the ones that pay the price are the people. A 49-pound dog can handle a big tick, but when the ticks weigh as much as the dog, eventually it’s just going to collapse and die because it can’t handle it.

17) The military refusing to obey civil leadership and not being punished for it: In many nations, the military ultimately decides who the leader is, not the people. If we were to see soldiers becoming loyal to generals, not the country, or generals openly defying the president without being punished for it, it would be a sign that the military might be willing to pick the new leader of the country at gunpoint.

18) Politicized law enforcement: We are already starting to see some of this in America, particularly in New York and it’s extremely dangerous. If one side or the other ever concludes the only way to stay out of jail is to be in charge, then they will take steps to get in charge and stay in charge by hook or crook.

19) Loss of government control over regions in the United States: This would include large, populated areas where the police are unwilling or unable to enforce order. For example, the “no go” zones the police have in certain European cities or the “autonomous zones” we saw in certain liberal cities during the George Floyd riots. If these became durable, it would be a sign of the weakness of the government that would invite other forces to rise up against them.

20) An attempt at widespread gun confiscation: If the government were to actually try to confiscate guns on a wide scale, many gun owners correctly assume they’re going to be put in camps, executed, or lose their right to vote soon after. At that point, they might very well view it as a kill-or-be-killed situation, and realistically, keeping America a Republic without guns isn’t on the table.

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