What's really disturbing across many of the responses is the total lack of confidence in our government. [...] That's even more frightening than a Hillary presidency.
Frightening? Yup. The only difference between a government and a gang of thugs is popular legitimacy.
But it's long overdue for the US government--and most if not all of the state governments--to lose their legitimacy.
And we're living in a pretty good time for it to happen. Technology is--or at least can be--on our side, and we still have our guns.
Anyone who really believes that the government is losing its legitimacy--as opposed to just finding it a diverting thing to talk about on the Internet, I mean--ought to be spending a fair amount of time learning the basics of digital cryptography. For example, without worrying about the specifics of low-level crypto algorithms, how would you go about signing a digital document to prove that it came from you? If you understand that process, then you probably know enough to make a good start at keeping yourself safe, if you decided to put in the effort.
