My point in the Haiti point is that you ended up with an Emperor for life, as in all the other cases where you ended up with kings or single party systems. And yes, I can accept that from the very poor starting points of many of these countries, maybe the shakeup at least loosened something that could have opened up improvements in the next century or something. They certainly didn't produce immediate benefit.

But the USA is not at that kind of starting point yet. They still have an (admittedly flawed and likely compromised) democracy with a strong economy and still very high living standards, even if they aren't evenly distributed. They do still have some checks and balances and rule of law that has not yet been subverted. Moving from this to a full autocracy, single party system, theocracy, military state or monarchy would not be a step up by any stretch of the imagination. It would be a disaster that would take decades if not a century or more to recover from.

So yes, sometimes things get so bad that you really can just toss it all out and probably not lose much, but that's not the case in really any western democracy. In most cases today all you'd get is something worse than what you already have.

As for peaceful revolutions, there are tons of examples, all creating far more prosperous democracies than the regimes they replaced, more or less from day one. I have an emotional place in my heart for this kind of revolution as I live in the first country listed and know the benefit we still get from that peaceful revolution today.

1. The Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia, 1989)

• Over just 41 days, a student-led movement brought down the Communist government without a single shot being fired.

• Outcome: A peaceful transition to a democratic parliamentary republic and the election of Havel as President, and massive improvements in living standards.

2. The People Power Revolution (Philippines, 1986)

• Also known as the EDSA Revolution, this movement ended the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

• Outcome: The military eventually refused to fire on the crowds, leading Marcos to flee to Hawaii and the installation of Corazon Aquino as President of a democratic nation which grew and improved living standards for decades to come.

3. The Singing Revolution (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 1987–1991)

• The Baltic states achieved independence from the Soviet Union through a massive cultural and non-violent uprising centered on national identity and song.

• Outcome: Despite Soviet military intimidation, the three nations successfully restored their independence by 1991 and are now democratic members of the EU and NATO with vastly better living conditions than under Soviet rule.

4. The Peaceful Revolution (East Germany, 1989)

• This movement led to the most iconic symbol of the Cold War’s end: the fall of the Berlin Wall, doing away with the communist party rule in East Germany.

• Outcome: The opening of the borders and the eventual reunification of Germany in 1990 as a single democratic and progressive nation which grew it's living standards in great strides in the coming decades.

5. South Africa’s Transition from Apartheid (1990–1994)

• Outcome: The establishment of a democratic and united "Rainbow Nation" and one of the most progressive constitutions in the world.