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One need not go far to see examples of this, on a scale small or large.   We have two spheres of rules, the social and the legal. The former governs private behavior; table manners, office customs etc.; the latter is government. The private sphere may involve uplifting or obnoxious behavior, but it is private, and any penalties are private. The public legal system is different. When it is  working it causes people to do this or not do that, and there are public penalties when one falls short.   But when the system is not working, the penalties have no force, and  something else causes people to do this or not do that. That something else is usually self-interest. 

Self-interest uses force or power,  if necessary,  to guide someone else’s behavior. Sometimes the action is subtle, hidden, and the other party may not even know she’s being manipulated. At other times  the other party fearfully and reluctantly gives in and obeys, but the compulsion opens the door to violence, for when there is no law, people will enforce their views on others with strength and weapons if necessary. That is, when the legal system fails to bring about the desired results, then, first, the law is skirted or ignored, then violence begins. DeGrot is right.

But when? We can point to historical examples, our American revolution, for example, the communist takeover of Cambodia, and on and on. Perhaps Venezuela at this moment. But can it ever happen here? In the “land of the free and home of the brave?” Yes, it can. Some think it has already started.