Thanks as always to Pirate’s Cove and The Other McCain for the Rule Five links, and to blogger pal Doug Hagin over at The Daley Gator for the linkback! Also, a programming note; finally we have a start date for our project in (ugh) New Jersey, so the 21-24 of August we’ll put up some placeholder totty while Mrs. Animal and I are on the road. Now, moving on… National treasure Dr. Victor Davis Hanson asks us if our current climate could result in a second civil war. Excerpt:
How, when, and why has the United States now arrived at the brink of a veritable civil war?
Almost every cultural and social institution — universities, the public schools, the NFL, the Oscars, the Tonys, the Grammys, late-night television, public restaurants, coffee shops, movies, TV, stand-up comedy — has been not just politicized but also weaponized.
Donald Trump’s election was not so much a catalyst for the divide as a manifestation and amplification of the existing schism.
We are now nearing a point comparable to 1860, and perhaps past 1968. Left–Right factionalism is increasingly fueled by geography — always history’s force multiplier of civil strife. Red and blue states ensure that locale magnifies differences that were mostly manageable during the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, the Bushes, and Clinton.
What has caused the United States to split apart so rapidly?
We’ve discussed the possibility of civil war in these virtual pages before. In fact one could argue that this possibility would be, in actuality, our first civil war; the 1861-1865 conflict was not a civil war as per the usual definition of two factions fighting for control of one nation, but rather a war of secession, with one faction trying to break away from the nation. But that’s a discussion for another day.
I won’t present Dr. Hanson’s argument detail; True Believers are encouraged to go read the entire article, as I couldn’t possibly present the line of reasoning therein as well as Dr. Hanson does. But it’s important to note, unlikely as I think open, armed conflict between left and right is, that if it were to happen it would not develop anything like the fascist “antifa” and other violent protest-class statists think it would.
The whole idea is still unlikely. Most Americans are too complacent, too attached to their comforts, too soft and saggy to engage in an armed conflict of this sort. But if things start to develop as some folks are predicting they will, it would behoove the statists to remember which side has all the guns.
Dr. Hanson concludes with a very good point: Whether we all take a deep breath, and understand our present dangerous trajectory, will determine whether 2019 becomes 1861.
The social equivalent of “measure twice, cut once” applies here.
