Why do the rich elites want to create the seeds for radical social upheaval?

[IDHow]

Isn't that what has happened time and again when the rich gets stupendously rich compared to the masses? Why don't the rich realize that it is in their interests to have a functioning society with happy people and not a society where they need protection like the tsars of Russia?

[Taverner]

1. "Rather to have your subjects fighting amongst each other than fighting against you"

Niccolo Machiavelli

[coti]

3. Yes, they do their best to scapegoat segments of the middle and lower classes

and pit them against each other. Usually with racism, but also with anti-union rhetoric and "outrageous" stories about government officials making just over six figures.

[Taverner]

6. They learned from the 90's the power of directed dissonance...

and the rest, they say, is history...

[glitch]

14. They always think they can manage it, until they can't.

Face it, inheriting wealth doesn't hone analytical skills. Or any skill requiring depth.

[Taverner]

16. It doesn't - but that never stops them from thinking it does

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Roll the tumbrels.

I'll get my knitting needles and wait for the new Marie Antoinette.

[grasswire]

4. chaos capitalism --- read the book

In chaos lies the opportunity for profit.

The Skull and Bones members are actually schooled in this principle while at Yale.

[KansDem]

5. Perhaps they think the police will protect them as they live in their guarded communities.

Are they really that clueless about what could happen if the masses will no longer tolerate a boot to their neck?

[Juche]

7. I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half -Jay Gould

It is true too. Fascism is usually an alliance between poor working class people and corporate interests, groups that generally are at odds (at least under left wing regimes). Using wedge issues, authoritarianism and social issues to get people to fight for the economic interests of the elite works. It always has and always will. The astroturfing where teabaggers protest whatever the fuck the Koch brothers and insurance companies tell them to protest is nothing new.

As income inequality grows more and more astroturf groups and people blaming mexicans for their problems will crop up. The solution? More inequality.

[Fuzz]

15. Yup, we're seeing that now.

The republican/tea-party types to not only vote against their interest but are willing to fight, kill and die for things not in their interest all for a 'principal', one that they think makes them patriotic Americans instead of seeing themselves as the slaves they really are.

[old mark]

8. Several reasons; First, the Patriot Act and similar laws give government

the authority to arrest anyone they want on suspicion of anything they feel is a threat to the government, which would be anyone planning a revolution - and you KNOW they are much more interested in persecuting the left than anyone on the right, no matter how extreme. Plaionly, you have NO rights they don't want you to have.

Also, who did you think will do this revolution? Many people in the US would gladly kill "socialist"/leftist/progressives on the slightest pretense. Many people on the left are great with words but lack capacity for real action for a variety of reasons, and many of us are too busy hating each other to organize the few who would show up to participate.

Face it, most Americans would rather watch shit on TV and drink beer, and they mostly don't care about anyone else.

It's an interesting idea, but it would NEVER happen.

mark

[IDHow]

9. But even if some form of libertarian socialist revolution maybe wont happen

surely, the rich realize that during the 19th century, it became apparent that only government social programs that protected the people could prevent even more radical social change. That's after all why Bismarck in Germany created all those welfare programs.

[Joanne98]

10. No! But that's want they're going to get. This class war is ON!

[bemildred]

11. They are dumb?

It's not a new phenomenon. Money doesn't make you intelligent or modest or wise. It just makes you rich.

[laughingliberal]

12. They think they've got us sufficiently brainwashed and sedated, now...

and all the new security and anti terra measures will protect them.

Has the ruling class ever failed to overreach when given the opportunity?

[awoke_in_2003]

13. They control the media...

and have used it to effectively brainwash a large portion of this country. Hell, people like Limbaugh claim fascism is a left wing phenomenon and very few people say "WTF?".

[applegrove]

17. The rich are busy building prisons. Who you kidding. They are way ahead of you.

[Hannah Bell]

18. to destroy the nation state & usher in the new world order?