in response to matts question

The government caused the people to revolt by denying them basic rights. Under Britian, the people would not have been able to enjoy the new freedoms which was why they left Britian. In order to truly become an independent state, they had to break away from a corrupt king who would have otherwise claimed the country for himself. For the people to achieve their common goal, their voice must be unified. What else would a government have to do to spark the revolt of a country? Well let's examine the 1960's. Today we have a war that many disapprove of but the soldiers are there of their own free will. Not so in Vietnam. We should have never been in that war to begin with and we were being dominated on a terrain we did not understand. The counter-culture, flower children, or "hippies" knew this. What did they do? They marched thousands of people in Washington, San Fransisco, Chicago, and other areas to make their opposition heard. There were riots and there was utter chaos. Some radicals burnt down buildings and draft ballots. They made their opposition heard. We pulled out of Vietnam and it was partly because of the constant war at home. What else may cause the people to revolt? In the beginning, I talked about the denying of basic human rights. The African Americans fought this war twice. The first time was in Abraham Lincoln's era where the Underground Railroad and other black voices and inspirationists allowed the anti-slavery bill to be passed. Then the prejudice really kicked up again in the 60's and 70's where we saw people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks stand up and speak their mind to have the injustice finally die down. Now we don't have desegregated restrooms, water fountains, restaurants or anything thanks to them. Alexb stated that America is too lazy today. And that is true. If we really wanted to end the war in Iraq, there would be tens of thousands of us shouting right at the White House. This country is now too divided between red and blue, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal to be unified. "We must indeed all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately." -George Mason