A couple of recent diaries suggesting we are on the brink of a second civil war have made the rounds here lately, and I started to comment on one of them, but decided I had more to say on the subject. I, for one, am not at all afraid of another such war.
Americans like being Americans too much to have another civil war. Go that route, and say goodbye to the American experience - weekends at the lake, Starbucks, kid’s graduation-marriage-grandkids, going to the mall, to church, to the movies, groceries, watching tv, working out at the gym, going out on a date — it’s an endless list of conveniences and lifestyles that as a nation we would have to agree to give up so that we could maim and kill each other instead.
That is one big agreement to come to, from a population that has to have 800 different flavors of “favorite” coffee, and tv shows, and movies, and furniture polish, because we all agree on so much so easily, don’t we??
No, what we are facing these days is not civil war — what we have growing here is the same problem European democracies have had for 100 years or more — a criminal class that uses politics as it’s medium to incite violence and terrorism — and to make lots and lots of money.
When I was a wee young soldier in West Germany for the first time on my first permanent party posting, on the very first night at my new unit (this would have been late 1985), there was a bomb threat at the base I had literally just arrived at, by a terrorist group called (if I remember correctly) The Red Army Faction. I was jet lagged after 14 hours in the windowless nose of a C130, and we all had to report for duty to defend the base if necessary, and to clear the buildings so the bomb finders could go looking for a bomb which didn’t turn out to exist. Stuff like that happened all the time in the 80’s while I was stationed over there — and none of it worked — Germany still stands, stronger than ever.
So yes, there are a lot of weapons in our nation, and yes, plenty of nut jobs willing to use them against fellow human beings. But war is an organized affair, not merely a bunch of crackpots out to kill people — that, is terrorism.
And I’m not suggesting this sidelong look at terrorism as a political tool isn’t cause for grave concern. It is necessary to address this problem, and to push back with proper laws, and law enforcement, to address it, divert it, and ultimately stop it — a tactic that has been working pretty well all over Europe these past few decades.
As for America — well, if we start to see armies amassing in places that claim to want another fight — this time over white supremacy and *snort* Donald F’ing Trump — then I might begin to worry.
In the meantime, please consider before throwing “civil war” around, that by doing so you are possibly helping (without meaning to) normalize the concept. Just saying. Orwell warned us of the power language has in forming concepts people will take as truths, so please keep that in mind if you insist on using that term, especially if you’re using it fearfully.
And comparing us to the Weimar Republic is, well, ridiculous — we are the richest country in the world, and we have not been beaten recently in a World War where our country’s wealth is being used to pay reparations for instigating that war. No, America certainly is not like the Weimar Germans were — we are not even close.
But if I see stuff like this fictional, fantasy movie below, happening in the real world, then I’ll be concerned…