>>It starts at the local level.
Politicians quickly convince themselves that voter dissent is sound and fury that easily can be distracted onto some other cause du jour, such as whether the sniper in the "Sniper" movie should have been a woman or whether the sniper was a hero or murderer. Soon the anger is vented in other directions and the status quo presses on. Historically the incumbents won't act until the tines of pitchforks impact well-padded derrieres.;-) I know you call that dramatic and no, I don't suppose the weapon of choice will be a pitchfork- but once there is nothing left to lose, an angry rabble loosely guided by disenfranchised middle classers is an unstoppable force.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1