PBS is rerunning Ken Burn's Civil War. It is a heart breaking 10 hours of television.
Now on a scale of like 1-10 I am like a 3 on world history. But I get it here (more on that in a few). When I see the far right talk about state rights, succession, or just the blind hatred cause Obama is not white I cringe.
Our nation has been down this road before, it wasn't pretty.
When most children were going to Disney Land for their vacation I went to Civil War battle fields. Heck on my professional site I use this line in my bio, "I am the most photographed child in the world next to a Civil War cannon." I think that is in fact true.
See my father's PHd is in Civil War military history. My father is the most stoic person you'll every run into, but on a battle field he comes alive. Animated. I will never forget our last trip to Gettysburg. He was running around, almost dancing, saying this happened and then this happened.
Pickett's Charge. Everybody has heard of it. Walk that line. From the woods the Confederates marched to the Union lines. It is like 1,200 yards. The slaughter got so intense that many Union soldiers refused to fire.
If you don't know around 2% of the entire US died during the Civil War. Close to 30,000 American died in three days at Shiloh. 7,000 in 20 minutes at Cold Harbor. Let me say that again, 7,000 in 20 minutes.
Or as Ken Burns says "we slaughtered each other wholesale."
You can watch, what is just stunning video, the intro here.