Who is the King in America? Before you answer that, do you know what the most common form of government in world history is? From the invention of writing c.3,300 BC, the world has been mostly ruled by kings. Power, like gravity concentrates into the hands of one person, who rewards his friends and punishes his enemies. The King of England was the most powerful king the planet had seen. When Americans got the chance, they set up a government as far from a king as possible. A "republic" is where the people are king, ruling through their representatives. Ancient Israel, during its initial years out of Egypt, was the first well-recorded instance of a nation ruled without a king. How do republics rise and fall? Israel? Athens? Rome? France? Did political activists invent tactics to help them fall? How did 45 countries fall to communist dictators? Are these tactics being used in America today? • Identify racial and class fault lines running through a society. • Fan real or perceived injustices into flames, creating tension and unrest. • When domestic violence erupts, everyone is so desperate to have order restored they relinquish freedoms to the state. How is domestic unrest created? Agitators, labor organizers, community organizers, agent provocateurs [provoking agents]. Political advisor David Axelrod explained in a NPR interview, April 19, 2010: “In Chicago, there was an old tradition of throwing a brick through your own campaign office window, then calling a press conference to say that you have been attacked.” Joseph Stalin “Crisis alone permitted the authorities to demand – and obtain – total submission and all necessary sacrifices from its citizens.”