[Ben Towe]

All governments protect their authority. Washington had to put down rebellions within a few years of the formation of the US. If governments did not protect their right to exist, we would have an endless string of revolutions and virtual anarchy. The right to rebel lies with no document, no man's words scribbled on a piece of parchment. It's a God given right of people to control the kind government they live under.

Another thought: most revolutions are not as "clean" as ours was. It is unique among almost all revolutions in history, before or since. The reasons behind that fact would require a deeper dissection of the events than we can go into here, but in short, it was because the whole idea was unprecedented. The overthrow of the most powerful military on the face of the earth and the government that we installed was unheard of. That has installed a mindset in Americans, liberal, conservative, whatever, we all are sympathetic to people trying to overthrow dictatorial regimes.