As I've often said, I've got nothing against rich people, per se. It's true that they authored the industrial revolution to enslave us and have worked tirelessly since to sustain a fearful and dependant underclass that remains at their disposal to do the dirty work that maintains their wealth and status. They have sold us like serfs and shipped our jobs to other countries. They have pilfered our pension funds to buy swimming pools and art collections. They have raped the earth and poisoned the air and are fast buying up the last reserves of potable water so that they can sell it back to us.

But really, they're not bad people.

Still, it might be time for a change. Many of my fellow members of the rabble are nostalgic for the days of the guillotine. For many, the resignation of the head of General Motors is not nearly enough, not by a long shot. For many, the whole kit and caboodle has to go, and like now. Revolution is indeed in the air.

But everything has its good points and bad points. Let's take a look at what's good and not so good about the idea of revolution as defined as an armed takeover of a nation.

• We could free ourselves from the rich and greedy
• We could take back what the rich have stolen from us
• We could punish the rich for their misuse of us
• We could establish a new order of equality and liberty
• We could return to the values of our founding fathers
• We could tear down the bureaucracy
• We could be free to live our lives as we choose
• We could set right the injustices of our society
• We could change our society from one based on money to one based on good deeds
• We could establish a form of government based on justice and freedom
• We could free ourselves from the tyranny of money
• We could free our country from foreign ownership
• We could discontinue all the frivolous and wasteful things our government does
• We could elect leaders truly from and for the people
• We could reshape our society to favor those who contribute the most to everyone's benefit and welfare rather than those with the craft and cunning to amass wealth and power for themselves

If the military does not happen to side with the revolutionaries there might be trouble. Not for nothing does our government maintain a formidable military force. Do you think that our government has never considered the possibility that it may be forced to confront an insurgency in the United States? Really?

While Americans are mean, ornery, frequently ignorant and bullheaded, and very frequently heavily armed, it's silly to think that a mob of angry American citizens could defeat a disciplined, world renowned fighting force.

Of course, it did happen before, during the first American revolutionary war. The British Army was the most formidable in the world at the time, yet they were defeated by some determined farmers with a little help from the rather non-Anglophile French. So it cannot be ruled out that history might repeat itself, and a benign ally will step in to tilt the balance in favor of the rabble.

One estimate I heard recently put the number of gun owners in the United States at about 90 million. All American military personnel number only a fraction of that number. It was sheer numbers that won the French Revolution, remember.

Not everyone is fond of the United States or willing to stand idly by while the United States has its collective pants down. Let's say theoretically that our valiant and skillful revolutionary fighters succeed in toppling the government. At the instant of governmental implosion, would the United States be strong or weak? Would it not be an ideal time for an ambitious leader to step in and pacify our troubled nation for us?

Mr. Chavez has no love for the United States, but the United States military would have to be in a sorry state indeed before he could mount a credible attempt at conquest.

Vladimir Putin is another story. The Russian military machine is already flexing. Should American security be compromised by a revolution, would he stand idly by? Maybe, maybe not.

Osama Bin Laden would certainly welcome an America too preoccupied with its own problems to bother with an infidel presence on Arab holy ground, yet also may see American political and military instability as an irresistible temptation to do some serious damage.

China (represented here by Premier Wen Jiabao) has also been building up its military and flexing its global muscles with new-found naval power. The absence of the American military from the global stage could give China an opportunity to greatly expand as a new world superpower.

One cannot talk about American revolution as if it would take place on some distant planet. Of course not. Any American revolution would take place right here on Earth with God and all our enemies watching.

I can understand everyone's impatience. We elected a man who preached change and brought, in large part, sameness, appointing rich jerks, Washington insiders and tax evaders to his cabinet. Sleazy bankers are running away with yet more billions of our hard earned dollars, and they seem to be doing it legally, right in front of our faces. It is an aggravating circumstance that makes the mildest among us clench our teeth in anger at the continuing injustice.

Nevertheless, we must still embrace the change Obama does represent.

How long did it take for a black man to be elected President of the United States? A long time. What kind of perseverance and sacrifice did it take to finally make it possible? Lots of perseverance and lots of sacrifice.

Now, how long will it take to reform not only our political system, but our entire society?

As the election of Barack Obama illustrates, change can indeed happen. It just takes time, patience, and persistence.