karol is right, most Americans own firearms, whereas Europeans do not - this is why things could get much, much worse here.
libertad is also correct, IMO, in that resistance by ordinary Americans could simply be demonstrated in a passive way. We wouldn't need to see mass riots; just more people dropping off the grid, or out of the system, or however you want to phrase it.
And nutmeg, I couldn't agree with you more. The growth in government at the federal, state, county, city/township/village level is OUT OF CONTROL. Our tax dollars are being used for the most inefficient purposes imaginable. How much stimulus would the economy receive if people were able to 'enjoy' a flat income tax of around 16%, or a consumption tax of 12% (either/or, not both), and could complete their tax returns in 5 minutes, with a simple, efficient, and fair protocol? Answer: Infinitely more stimulative than what's being proposed.
The most fantastic facet of what we're being told is the panacea to our problems is what caused the current economic crisis in the first place: Overconsumption. Now that people are clenching their wallets and purses, whether be necessity or choice or fear, the cure is in the works - equilibrium between supply and demand in a more naturalized, and less 'stimulated' (whether by artificially low interest rates, easy, loose credit, etc.), where the services and goods we truly need are being purchased still, and a lot of the discretionary fluff that people just bought for arbitrary reasons is being worked out of the system.
Saving is the answer to our bloated and inefficient economy, not stimulus to urge more spending.
The adjustment will be painful, but we'd all be in better shape to let this natural resetting take place without government interference, which will only delay the day of reckoning.