“Turnings last about 20 years and always arrive in the same order. Four of them make up the cycle of history, which is about the length of a long human life. The first turning is a High, a period of confident expansion as a new order becomes established after the old has been dismantled. Next comes an Awakening, a time of rebellion against the now-established order, when spiritual exploration becomes the norm. Then comes an Unraveling, an increasingly troubled era of strong individualism that surmounts increasingly fragmented institutions. Last comes the Fourth Turning, an era of upheaval, a Crisis in which society redefines its very nature and purpose.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss_and_Howe

Not spot on, but an interesting idea – we’re long overdue for a fourth turning, but how bad will things get first? How do we get “the masses” (not forgetting that I am a part of that mass) to become passionate about sacrificing comforts of stability and ease in order to gain liberty before conditions become drastic?

The last time things got that drastic, there was the French Revolution. Our government, however, is so powerful that such a violent rejection of imposed order (God forbid) would end up a sad massacre of the people, regardless of our right to bear arms. It’s an issue of firepower and technology. It seems there’s no historical precedent, and severe rises in globalism/technology/capacity for surveillance are to blame.

A history professor once told me that The Fall is to blame for man’s favoring stability and order over his personal liberty. I believe her – Something inherently broken in us prevents the majority of people from stepping up. It’s a scary world today, because there’s no “new world” to run to when oppression surrounds. God save us.