I have been writing about the dangerous state of affairs that exist within the current political climate in the United States of America. The extremes on both the right and the left have seemingly thrown caution to the wind and have embraced a scorched earth approach to ensuring the triumph of their side. In short, the long simmering culture war is threatening to turn into a full-fledged civil war. Moreover, I'm not the only one who thinks that this is a real possibility.
Salon just published a piece by Chauncey DeVega entitled Disunited States: Could a second Civil War...really happen? The article is based on a new book by Richard Kreitner entitled Break It Up. The piece opens by pointing out how the current occupant of the Oval Office thinks in terms of red and blue states, and how he feels absolutely no obligation to assist blue states. The article then moves on to point out how Trump and Barr have threatened to use the Insurrection Act and charge people with sedition who choose to oppose his "victory" in November.
DeVega relates how Kreitner views the "Age of Trump" as "one of several moments in the country's history where it almost collapsed into a state of civil war and widespread political violence." He continues: "What we are learning as a people in the Age of Trump is that what holds the United States and the constitutional order together is a matter of habit and practice. I would perhaps go so far as to say inertia. The United States has really not been able to agree on institutional arrangements that would make for a stable and unified nation."
As the article makes clear, this unsettled nature of "institutional arrangements" goes all the way back to the founding of the nation. The compromises that the Founding Fathers fashioned in terms of state vs federal power, and popular governance on the federal level vs state control (giving smaller states a larger voice in the Senate), are wearing thin. We are also reminded how righteous extremists provoked the Civil War of 1861-1865, and how the rebels were accommodated and appeased as they were ushered back into the union. In short, there has always been a substantial part of our citizenry who have resisted any diminution of white supremacy within this nation. In other words, some of the same issues that haunted our ancestors are still with us today - never having been entirely resolved by those earlier conflicts.
Finally, when DeVega asked Kreitner about a possible scenario for how the nation might disintegrate into civil war, he pointed to our current circumstances. He concluded: "There is an election that is existential, one of the most important in American history. There are many millions of guns in the United States and lots of discussions by the right wing about using them. The issues that led to the first civil war remain in many ways unresolved. There is a massive reckoning over the country's own history that has been long postponed. Resolving such matters is rarely peaceful. There are also foreign adversaries and other forces who are interfering in the election. All the elements for the story are present right now in America."
The stakes couldn't be higher. Both sides are playing for keeps. The margins for compromise have grown smaller and smaller with each day. The sides have already been chosen. The fuse has been lit; and, unfortunately, I don't see anyone on the scene who is willing and able to defuse it!
Wow, Trump is the most hated President since Abraham Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why?
Here is another viewpoint on the matter.
The "alternative" viewpoint you provided arrives at the same conclusion (civil war) from the right's perspective! John Daniel Davidson concludes: "Now, 160 years later, we face what could be a similar crisis. There’s a rich irony in the elite assumption that post-election violence will come from 'right-wing militias' or 'vigilante groups,' when the last three months of rioting and looting by Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists have in some ways been a dress rehearsal for what the left is planning in November. You don’t need to read between the lines to understand this, you just need to take these people at their word." The only difference between the two scenarios is that Davidson places the blame for the commencement of the conflict on Democrats instead of Trump!
Delete"The "alternative" viewpoint you provided arrives at the same conclusion (civil war) from the right's perspective!"
ReplyDeleteThat's why I shared it. However, I am not so pessimistic. I believe a civil war can be avoided.
I think that your optimism may be misplaced. The avoidance of this outcome would involve either the right or the left suddenly becoming more statesman-like and putting country above party. I haven't seen ANY evidence of that happening, and the center is very small now and continues to shrink.
DeleteFirst of all, the right is not engaging in the same behaviour as the democrats. Did you watch Barr's testimony before the House? I watched the whole 4 and a 1/2 hours of it and without watching any political commentary before or after. There was only two maybe three democrat congressmen that behaved like adults. If you have ANY evidence of republicans behaving likewise, please share. I have watched hundreds of hours of livestreams of the riots. Just last night, within the first ten minutes of watching, I saw a man set fire to a courthouse. And when the police rolled up to push the crowd back in order to put out the fire, they were hit with molotav cocktails. Look at the examples of the left's attitude that I posted in your other thread. There are much more. And about those riots, where is the condemnation from the left? Are Anitfa and BLM the democrat's brownshirts?
DeleteThe center is growing sick of this shit. People are tired of having their travel impeded by rioters and being harassed while having their peaceful dining experience by so called "peaceful protesters." They want Law and Order.
I do agree that things can get much worse if stubborn and corrupt people don't pull their heads out of their asses. They need to stop encouraging violence and chaos. The MSM and Hollyweird are throwing fuel on the fire. Here's a clip from the cult-hit God Bless America. Frank's rant: "Why have a civilization anymore if we are no longer interested in being civilized."
Delete