It’s more than a little unsettling to Western governments that French police are battling French citizens in the streets over … the retirement age. The Sarkozy government wants to raise it by a couple of years, and protesters have gotten so vehement you’d think there was a new ban on wine at dinner.

Could or would Americans take to the streets over some new twist in government policy? A House candidate in Texas made waves this week by suggesting that a violent overthrow of the U.S. government is always an alternative to suffering tyranny. And now some in the mainstream media are intimating that if Tea Partiers don’t get what they want in the November 2 elections, they’re going to foment revolt. They also like to point out that Rand Paul, the libertarian Senate candidate in Kentucky, would like to see the end of the Federal Reserve.

Of course, one way or another, and sooner or later, we’ll have unrest in the streets in America. But it will happen only when it’s become clear to most people that the federal government has taken or is trying to take away our most fundamental freedoms – of free speech, and religion.

And don’t think the elections, whatever their results, will allow us to avoid this ugly eventuality – its shape and timing, maybe but not the inevitability.

That’s because the huge federal budget deficits created over the last couple of years will still be there. The economy will still be moribund. The dollar will still be under siege both in terms of its intrinsic value and its former status as the global currency of choice. And it’ll still be a good idea for you to make sure you and your family are ready.