I'm less optimistic about the people being able to do anything. For one, the only times when 'heads rolled' was in cases of state collapse, with the French and Russian revolutions - in the former case, with the support of the elites. And it's not as if either resulted in desirable effects.
Don't take this as "why bother doing anything, it's pointless", but I don't see majorities of ordinary people being able to take down the most militarized empire in human history. I see no path for displacing the elites. In theory, a general strike would result in a change of government, but it would still be responsive to the previously existing elites and not to the population.
I'm less optimistic about the people being able to do anything. For one, the only times when 'heads rolled' was in cases of state collapse, with the French and Russian revolutions - in the former case, with the support of the elites. And it's not as if either resulted in desirable effects.
Don't take this as "why bother doing anything, it's pointless", but I don't see majorities of ordinary people being able to take down the most militarized empire in human history. I see no path for displacing the elites. In theory, a general strike would result in a change of government, but it would still be responsive to the previously existing elites and not to the population.
Not yesterday I had another user insisting on the likelihood of Trump to change things, so I guess balance in all things.