Here's what people risk losing, in the case of violent revolution:

Their homes, their possessions, their security, their money, their lives.

That's why it never happens until people are simply desperate...until they basically feel they have nothing left to lose. That was the case in France for the poor at the time of the French revolution. It was the case in Russia in 1917 and China in the 30's and 40's.

Americans are way too comfortable right now to be ready for revolution, even if they are living in a phony "democracy" where their vote is meaningless. That's why I say, it's a very clever form of dictatorship. As long as you keep a monkey well fed and entertained inside his cage...specially if he has never known of life outside his well furnished and sizable cage...he will imagine in his mind that he is free. His freedom will be an illusion, but a comfortable one for all that. He will talk about how free he is, compared to foreign monkeys, and he will believe it.