Thanks to Pirate’s Cove and The Other McCain for the Rule Five links!

I know a few folks who are of the opinion that the United States is headed for a second civil war.  I’ve written some on the topic myself in these virtual pages.  Here is an interesting take on the topic.  Excerpt:

I was interviewed by a mainstream media reporter yesterday. I thought he wanted to talk tech issues, but we actually spent almost the entire conversation discussing the feeling that many conservatives have that America has gone off the tracks and is headed toward dissolution or alternately, a civil war one day. Obviously, this would be a terrible thing and ironically, twenty years ago, it would have been laughable. Today, the joke isn’t so funny because we are a deeply unhealthy society with a dysfunctional government and for all our money, success and storied history, we seem to be on an increasingly dangerous trajectory.

Read the whole thing, but I’m not sure I can agree with the conclusion, which has to do with possible gun confiscations:

When it is discussed on the Left, there seems to be an assumption that lone resisters might get into firefights with dozens of police or soldiers, as opposed to ganging up with other formerly law-abiding Americans to waylay gun confiscators, politicians and anti-gun activists at THEIR HOMES in guerrilla actions that would be silently applauded and supported by hundreds of millions of Americans concerned about their freedom. Confiscating guns is a dangerous and stupid idea that could in and of itself end our republic if a serious attempt were ever made to implement it.

I do agree with the premise above; any whole-scale confiscation of privately owned firearms would almost certainly end in bloodshed.  And any hot civil war between Left and Right (and I speak, I think, for most libertarians when I say we would be aligned with the Right, especially where guns are concerned) would not end up to the benefit of the Left.  They are not, after all, the ones with all the guns, and any such attempts would not have the support of most of the military or even much of civil law enforcement.

I do think, though, that if anything bad happens, it will be not with a bang but with a whimper.  No Republic has ever lasted forever, and the United States is no exception.  But some sort of balkanization is more likely than a hot war.  The lines of demarcation in our nation now are geographical to some extent, but not with the old north-south demarcation; it’s largely urban/rural, with huge swaths of the country red and the major cities in blue.  Our economic crises will affect everyone, but the major events described in items 2 and 5 will effect rural areas, they will result in our major cities destroying themselves.  I think some sort of unfriendly but inevitable separation more likely.

Either way, I can say one thing for sure:  I hope I don’t live to see it.  I’m afraid my grandchildren will.