There's also the whole question of the state's total monopoly on violence being unchallengable since the mechanization of the military in late WW1 and all of WW2. Even more so with the NSA and the surveillance state we all live in.

That said, that Thomas Jefferson quote is still relevant. Bureaucracies and systems do become stagnant, grow in power to become oppressive, and occasionally need to be rebuilt or evolve to be made better. This is true in industry and is true in government too. The question is how does this change come about?

Considering the modern state of warfare this must now be viewed as "shaking the tree of established ideas and systems", rather than any form of violent revolution or coup.

I'm currently making my way through the Oxford History of the United States and the entire reason the US revolutionary army - a loose collection of poorly armed and trained militias - was even able to win against the biggest imperial army in the world was because:

- a big ocean separated US/Britian, making reinforcements and most importantly communication challenging.

- the British army and economy was largely depleted due to their long war with France, they were in no position to win a war, especially a half-hearted war

- the British crown was totally oblivious to the fact that the support for royalists was insignificant, due to their distance and distraction with France, their intel was simply awful

- France joined in to support the war at a critical time

Unless America joins another costly deeply unpopular world war or somehow becomes in financial ruin, I doubt there will ever be an internal revolution again. Even then it would be risky and probably a bad idea. Therefore an entirely non-violent peaceful shaking of the tree is the only practical option :).