Let me thank all of you for your extremely thoughtful comments. I’ll offer a few thoughts of my own at this point, take your questions, and respond to your comments.
First, I don’t think it will come to civil war. Our governing institutions are still strong. Most of our media is still responsible, in terms of reporting facts. Most of our political, nonprofit, and business leaders are doing their jobs as best they can. Even careless talk about civil war can be dangerous and destructive.
But I do think we are in a civic crisis. Trump is the symptom. The underlying cause is that many Americans — mainly those without college degrees and living in the heartland — have been abandoned. The bottom 10 percent by income is still struggling but by-in-large are better off than they were 40 years ago. But the 40 percent just above them have been losing ground. That has made them susceptible to someone like Trump — claiming to be an anti-establishment “strongman” who can turn their despair and humiliation into hope and pride, even though he is pure bombast and narcissism.
Why hasn’t the Democratic Party responded better to the needs of the working class? Even before it went on life support, “Build Back Better” had been whittled down to the point where it would do little or nothing for the bottom half. I’m old enough to remember when the Democratic Party attracted those with less education and the Republican Party attracted those with more. Today, people with less education vote for Republicans and those with more vote for Democrats. The Democratic Party has gone from being a worker party to a party of intellectual and professional elites. Since the Republican Party continues to cater to the needs and wants of business on economic policy, this has left millions of working people without any effective political voice. Hence, policies that would change the structure of power are opposed by the likes of Joe Manchin, the senior Democratic senator from West Virginia.
We won’t have a civil war, but we are in imminent danger of losing our democracy to a dangerous alliance of big business oligarchs, on the one hand, and Trump-like populist-fascists on the other. To me, that’s the fight ahead of us — to foster a countervailing alliance of the poor, working class, and middle class that will make our democracy and economy work for them as well.
To quote an article 1/4/2022 by The Guardian: "It would be entirely possible for the United States to implement a modern electoral system, to restore the legitimacy of the courts, to reform its police forces, to root out domestic terrorism, to alter its tax code to address inequality, to prepare its cities and its agriculture for the effects of climate change, to regulate and to control the mechanisms of violence. All of these futures are possible". However, watch the movie: "Don't Look Up". The comet is coming. American politicians refuse to look up. They seem quite busy watching football, the Kardashian clan and going on vacations.
If we don’t go after fox news the way we went after and pressured FB, Twitter we will be discussing facts and the republican cult conspiracy-world-view will outright reject those facts. There has to be a common set of facts to have a debate or discussion. We need to address the fact that Fox News is allowed to operate even though they verifiably lie and incite anger and violence. We’ve had 40 years of their republican sponsored garbage. Their cult leader, 45, is a criminal with a list a mile long. There is overwhelming evidence that he incited the deadly coup attempt and held off help for the capital police. We need action on this or we will conclude no one in politics is on our side when the highest crime is committed against us. The disgraceful Jan 6th murder rampage is coming up. Commemorate Jan 6 by multiple indictments, arrests and in the case of military personnel joining it, court marshal, remove any future benefits. These people are traitors to our country.
I’ve realized lately in trying to have intelligent conversations about politics, that most Americans (both sides) are unwilling or incapable of being completely honest about what they don’t know or understand. It’s like there’s an epidemic of the inability to say “I don’t know”. There is also an epidemic of people who can’t or won’t say “I’m wrong” or “I’m sorry”. For me, this is what is leading us to civil war. If I couldn’t say to my longterm friends or my wife, “I’m so sorry. I was wrong. I will do everything I can to make sure I don’t repeat that mistake”, I’d be divorced and alone…. Being wrong and making mistakes has made me better. I’ve learned far more from my mistakes than my successes. But, for me, this is THE #1 reason this country is imploding. Both sides, when discussing politics, without taking the time and discipline to study and deeply understand an issue like voting rights, or vaccines or fill-in-the-blank, they shove their uninformed but unwavering, self righteous opinions as if it’s true knowledge. Again, this is both sides. No one, and I do mean 100% of everyone I know or have met, will say, “you know what, I haven’t taken the time to understand what’s in the Build Back Better bill to have a clear opinion on it.” So, as a result of this lack of vulnerability and honesty, we have both sides at verbal and emotional war. I spent a lot of my life being self-involved and incapable of being wrong and apologizing, so I get it. What changed for me was getting in therapy and my shrink saying, “Gina, you’re full of shit” and me not firing her but stopping to listen and then forcing myself to pull my head out of my ass”… Age has also mellowed me out. (I’m 59) I find as I get older, I don’t operate from my ego as much, thank god… The point is, most of this country is intellectually lazy, uninformed, unapologetic but unabashedly belligerent about things they have no deep understanding about. Until we can all put down our pride and egos and self-righteous opinions, to stop, listen, and say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong”, there will be war. - I often wonder if the masses who backed Nixon during Watergate ever said, “I was wrong about him”. - My last point leading me to believe that Civil War is unavoidable is the complete lack of inaction. I have many friends who do understand the critical condition our democracy is in, but they are doing absolutely nothing. I remind them that big changes happened when people stood together - women’s suffrage, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage etc… Still, they do nothing and I stand at Voter’s Rights rallies with 50 other people in a state with 30 million people. (Texas) Again, it makes me wonder if Germans who watched their Jewish friends and neighbors taken away and did nothing, look back and say, “if we all had all stood up and done something, the Holocaust never would have happened”. I keep saying this to everyone I know or meet. The inaction combined with the lack of civic responsibility combined with the lack of knowledge and true understanding combined with emotional immaturity and belligerence is making me believe I need to leave this country that I have loved and once felt so proud of. America and Americans are unrecognizable to me now. I wish I knew what to do. I’m trying but failing… I do believe we are headed into a Civil War. The ONLY thing that could save us is a strong leader like a Susan B. Anthony or an MLK to bring us together. I wish Stacey Abrams or someone like her could lead us out of this dark place in history….
I want to see several high profile Democrats create a fund to counter Rep. lies. This could be managed by a few talented PR folks. Messages should be high impact, visual ( billboards), and clever but very obvious. I think millions of concerned citizens would be eager to financially support this endeavor. And, if a saturation campaign began soon, it might counter the Republican lies in the next election.
Robert and friends, I begin with a letter I sent to national newspapers two days ago:
Media alarmism at the exact moment we need responsibility and calm
To the editor:
On print media websites and live broadcasts on Jan. 2 (and undoubtedly the front page of newspapers on Jan. 3)—four days before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Insurrection—the national media trumpet uncritically and alarmingly the results of a University of Maryland/Washington Post opinion survey of only 1000 respondents that suggests that an apparently high percentage of respondents support political violence against government under certain unspecified circumstances. A yet to be detailed CBS survey supposedly supports this “finding.”
Knowledgeable readers and serious journalists must object strongly and loudly. This is irresponsible reporting on a sensitive current issue of great concern. It demands care and informed consideration. To begin, the sample size is small (the “margin of error” percentage is statistically irrelevant given the sample size); second, the reporters provide no information on the composition of the sample population.
Third, the reporters do not examine the wording of the questions and the contradictory readings of answers to them. Importantly, in certain circumstances, there may be legitimate, even constitutional grounds for a popular uprising against the government in power. This is hardly a question of the Big Lie alone. Finally, as previously, reporters ignore or have forgotten the results of a revealing September poll that indicated that at least 56% of admitted Trump voters felt overwhelming pressure not to reveal their current thinking about the results of the 2020 election, the Insurrection, and the Big Lie.
Alarmism is journalistic malpractice.
We face huge problems as I have argued here previously. But exaggerating them and talking a Civil War is both wrong headed and an inadequate historical analogy. The US in 2020-today does not compare with 1858-1860-65. No way. Despite TX and FL "seceding from reality" as I have just written (https://columbusfreepress.com/article/busting-myths-texas-and-florida-secede-reality-ohio-imitates), no one is seceding from the US. There is no bombing of a federal fort. Etc Etc.
We must do better and think knowledgeably about TODAY. and tomorrow. The immediate threat is individual gun-toking crazed individuals facilitated by Rep State Legis who can't read the Second Amendment (or First Amendment either) who may attack. Not by the daily diminishing Trumpists.
Can Republicans and Democrats continue to live in the same nation? Unfortunately, I think something terrible and explosive must happen before real change can take place, on a larger scale than January 6th. We are a divided nation and Civil War seems inevitable to me. Things will continue to remain unstable and get volatile. The Big Lie is defended by Republicans, many of whom know better, to perpetuate the racism that is at the center of the differences between the two sides. One key thought that may be difficult to accept is that if Trump runs again, HE WILL NOT LOSE. I also think the military may be divided, even though their loyalty is supposed to be with the commander in chief, Biden. If that commander in chief becomes Trump, we are in trouble. I live in Mississippi. Confederate flags are everywhere, even though we have a new state flag now. There are towns that have huge signs that say that Trump won. I stay to myself. I don't walk around the neighborhood, which I wish I could do, because my neighbors have a Confederate flag on their roof flanked by two Trump flags. Slavery and state's rights and westward expansion were at the heart of the first Civil War, so when Abe Lincoln was elected president, southern states seceded. 62,000 soldiers were killed. I would love to live in a diverse state, a democrat state, one that I don't feel like I have to hide in. I am half Thai, half caucasian. This is disconcerting to me, living where I live. I think of the Japanese people who ended up in internment camps after WWII. I am an over-thinker and tend to overreact to things in the news. But is what I'm saying so far fetched? Sometimes it takes something major to evoke change and a civil war is the most likely occurrence to do that. It is not a good solution but I don't see any other remedy than an outright war. I don't think I'm being cynical, just realistic. We must prepare ourselves for what is to come. We are living in a dangerous era.
Einstein, one of history's greatest thinkers once said, a problem of this magnitude & division can only be solved by a higher level of consciousness than the one that created it. I look to moral philosophy or religion as the "higher level of consciousness". Republicans, who now think like nihilists can not solve these problems. I would rather be approximately right, than definitely wrong.
When almost half our nation has eschewed reality, morality and the rule of law, the results are inevitable: civil war (maybe) or total social, philosophical and moral separation (certainly). I think we are in the beginning stages of real civil war. Never mind about the Russian or Chinese threats; They won't do anything rash, because any external threats would unite us. All they have to do is sit and watch us commit suicide. I believe that the South actually won the Civil War; it's just taking us a long time to realize it.
Ah, yes; civil war. Like O'Toole one shies away from talking about it for fear of it becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Prepare for it? How? How does one prepare for chaos? We can work to prevent it, however. And, the writers of today's comments offer some very good suggestions. I fear there is among our populace a notion that civil war is somehow romantic, indeed heroic-- FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS and all that fictional nonsense. We must work very, very hard to dispel them of that nonsensical view. In reality, civil war causes untold, unbelievable suffering to people and devastating destruction to property and civil order that compounds that suffering. I shudder to entertain the idea. To dispel, we will need to engage those hostile citizens who advocate for it either thru words or actions. A non-aggressive lead-in is "I see it a little differently" and then calmly but firmly tell them in no uncertain words how disruptive civil war is.
If we are to coexist, we must address racism and xenophobia, which always exist under the surface, ready to be exploited by unscrupulous plutocrats and politicians. According to an analysis I saw, the January 6 Capitol burglars, as I like to call them were most likely to come from counties that are rapidly diversifying, including some in which a majority voted for Biden. PBS Newshour did a report last night on a region of north Texas in which 35 people were arrested for their participation in the January 6 riot/burglary. Some cities in the region are among the fastest growing in the country, and the county in which they are located dropped from 63% white to 51% white in the past ten years. A Muslim woman who ran for City Council in 2020 was the target of relentless harassment and stereotyping lies. Unsurprisingly, she lost.
But, I point to my neighborhood of 460 homes as a sign of hope. It is demographically very diverse, with different races including at least two mixed-race couples, ethnicities, national origins, religions, a wide range of ages, and also political party affiliations. We also have a number of LGBT couples. During the 2020 election there were both Biden and Trump yard signs, and none was vandalized or stolen. We have made an effort to get along. One of my neighbors with whom I'm friendly is a partisan Republican, but we have worked together on hyperlocal issues in which we have a common interest. We even discuss politics sometimes without getting into an angry shouting match. So it is possible to get along, but it takes effort.
Unfortunately, the former guy used the enormous power and prestige of the presidency to promote divisiveness and to encourage violence. It will take awhile to undo that substantial damage. We need our current leaders to step up to repeatedly condemn divisiveness and violence. I also agree with other commenters that we need to do something about right wing media that use deceit and deception to foment anger and promote animosity.
Having participated in this forum for a few weeks now, I could not help but notice that the focus is very much on the Republican base's drift toward fascism. This is an undeniable fact but I think that it also needs to be put back in its proper context. In front of a blaze, firefighters do not worry at how high the flames are; they work at the level where the fire finds its combustible. One thing is Republican lawmakers with authoritarian tendencies, another is the combustible they find in disenfranchised, mostly white, poor, and under educated American people. Politicians and well-off people will support egregious views because they find a personal interest in doing so, whether it is to have their ego flattered or their bank account swelling up. They speak from a position of power. The Republican base, on the other hand, will adhere to the same views and vociferously support them because they themselves are lost and feel they need to scapegoat anyone who does not howl with the pack. As good firefighters, we should stop pointing at their madness and start taking care of what is causing it. This madness are the flames; they are impressive and can truly create chaos but they are also empty. Fox"news" and other propaganda outlets fan them as much as they can, yet the real cause of the fire, the combustible that fuels it, is the lack of politics geared toward the common good. Trumpists love their children too, at least the ones I have met, who are politically in cuckooland but humanly very kind persons. Bernie Sanders, of all people, believes in them. That is why he is not shy to explain his own views directly to them when he has the opportunity. That is the lesson, that is what we should do instead of running away in a panic because a bad draft of madness has seized the population. This draft can disappear as quickly as it flared up because it stands on nothing. So, let's not be impressed and let's get back in the proper perspective: fascism is not fought by taking its reasons seriously but by taking its causes seriously.
We need to force the issue. I honestly don’t believe a civil war can be avoided. While we have the power to do so we should get in front of it. Eliminate filibuster, protect voting rights. We are at war. Use everything we can to expose republicans as fascists. I have a neighbor that says BLM are responsible for January 6th. In other words she reserves the right to lie. She needs to be dealt with severely. There’s no negotiation. Racists narcissistic liars. Good luck negotiating with that trash. I’m not extremist but I can be when confronted. Ted Cruz is already planning to impeach Biden when they win mid terms. Has no interest in governing for the American people. They know what to do with power. We need to act. Biden also needs to forewarn the American people what’s coming. Number one issue. We are headed to a confrontation with fascism. Robert I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to taking out the trash. Want to activate the Democrats and normal Americans, this is it. America reborn. It’s time
Robert, there is something "off" about all this foment: It is coming from the top, not the bottom. The agents-provocateurs are nicely suited and well coiffed. Most are on the public payroll or on the payroll of major media organizations. Yes, the angst they have whipped up in the public at large is real enough and dangerous.
But this is not revolution in the making - it is a putsch. A putsch originates inside the palace walls; a revolution comes from outside the palace walls. This is an astroturf putsch, not a grassroots revolution.
If Democrats don’t retain control of both Houses in 22, the future I see unfolding is one of utter chaos, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the loss of trust both in government and also in mainstream institutions of American life.
In my view, the most decisive event over the next two weeks is the scheduled Senate vote that will determine whether Democrats will have enacted a filibuster rule change that will allow for a check on GOP controlled State Legislatures that unilaterally continue to pass bill after bill that restricts voting and nullifies votes. Because we nearly are running out the clock on democracy itself, I see no choice aside from exhausting every possibility to arrive at a rule change both Manchin and Sinema will accept.
My understanding is that, while both Manchin and Sinema support the two companion voter protection bills, neither currently supports a filibuster carve-out nor do they support changing the 60-vote threshold to end debate. Seeing that Schumer needs all 50 Senators to sign on to a filibuster rule change, an option proposed by former Chief Counsel to Ted Kennedy, Jeff Blattner, could work. For “major” legislation, it would ensure “the minority a full debate and the right to offer relevant amendments.” However, “after an extended period…without the offering of an amendment gaining bipartisan support, the supporters of the bill [e.g. the Freedom to Vote Act] could move to invoke cloture (the cutting off of debate) by a simple majority vote.” For me, the brilliance of this proposal, or some version of it possibly under consideration, is that it comes closer to meeting Manchin’s and Sinema’s demands than any other I’ve reviewed, and it ends McConnell’s veto over the will of the majority.
Let me thank all of you for your extremely thoughtful comments. I’ll offer a few thoughts of my own at this point, take your questions, and respond to your comments.
First, I don’t think it will come to civil war. Our governing institutions are still strong. Most of our media is still responsible, in terms of reporting facts. Most of our political, nonprofit, and business leaders are doing their jobs as best they can. Even careless talk about civil war can be dangerous and destructive.
But I do think we are in a civic crisis. Trump is the symptom. The underlying cause is that many Americans — mainly those without college degrees and living in the heartland — have been abandoned. The bottom 10 percent by income is still struggling but by-in-large are better off than they were 40 years ago. But the 40 percent just above them have been losing ground. That has made them susceptible to someone like Trump — claiming to be an anti-establishment “strongman” who can turn their despair and humiliation into hope and pride, even though he is pure bombast and narcissism.
Why hasn’t the Democratic Party responded better to the needs of the working class? Even before it went on life support, “Build Back Better” had been whittled down to the point where it would do little or nothing for the bottom half. I’m old enough to remember when the Democratic Party attracted those with less education and the Republican Party attracted those with more. Today, people with less education vote for Republicans and those with more vote for Democrats. The Democratic Party has gone from being a worker party to a party of intellectual and professional elites. Since the Republican Party continues to cater to the needs and wants of business on economic policy, this has left millions of working people without any effective political voice. Hence, policies that would change the structure of power are opposed by the likes of Joe Manchin, the senior Democratic senator from West Virginia.
We won’t have a civil war, but we are in imminent danger of losing our democracy to a dangerous alliance of big business oligarchs, on the one hand, and Trump-like populist-fascists on the other. To me, that’s the fight ahead of us — to foster a countervailing alliance of the poor, working class, and middle class that will make our democracy and economy work for them as well.
To quote an article 1/4/2022 by The Guardian: "It would be entirely possible for the United States to implement a modern electoral system, to restore the legitimacy of the courts, to reform its police forces, to root out domestic terrorism, to alter its tax code to address inequality, to prepare its cities and its agriculture for the effects of climate change, to regulate and to control the mechanisms of violence. All of these futures are possible". However, watch the movie: "Don't Look Up". The comet is coming. American politicians refuse to look up. They seem quite busy watching football, the Kardashian clan and going on vacations.
If we don’t go after fox news the way we went after and pressured FB, Twitter we will be discussing facts and the republican cult conspiracy-world-view will outright reject those facts. There has to be a common set of facts to have a debate or discussion. We need to address the fact that Fox News is allowed to operate even though they verifiably lie and incite anger and violence. We’ve had 40 years of their republican sponsored garbage. Their cult leader, 45, is a criminal with a list a mile long. There is overwhelming evidence that he incited the deadly coup attempt and held off help for the capital police. We need action on this or we will conclude no one in politics is on our side when the highest crime is committed against us. The disgraceful Jan 6th murder rampage is coming up. Commemorate Jan 6 by multiple indictments, arrests and in the case of military personnel joining it, court marshal, remove any future benefits. These people are traitors to our country.
I’ve realized lately in trying to have intelligent conversations about politics, that most Americans (both sides) are unwilling or incapable of being completely honest about what they don’t know or understand. It’s like there’s an epidemic of the inability to say “I don’t know”. There is also an epidemic of people who can’t or won’t say “I’m wrong” or “I’m sorry”. For me, this is what is leading us to civil war. If I couldn’t say to my longterm friends or my wife, “I’m so sorry. I was wrong. I will do everything I can to make sure I don’t repeat that mistake”, I’d be divorced and alone…. Being wrong and making mistakes has made me better. I’ve learned far more from my mistakes than my successes. But, for me, this is THE #1 reason this country is imploding. Both sides, when discussing politics, without taking the time and discipline to study and deeply understand an issue like voting rights, or vaccines or fill-in-the-blank, they shove their uninformed but unwavering, self righteous opinions as if it’s true knowledge. Again, this is both sides. No one, and I do mean 100% of everyone I know or have met, will say, “you know what, I haven’t taken the time to understand what’s in the Build Back Better bill to have a clear opinion on it.” So, as a result of this lack of vulnerability and honesty, we have both sides at verbal and emotional war. I spent a lot of my life being self-involved and incapable of being wrong and apologizing, so I get it. What changed for me was getting in therapy and my shrink saying, “Gina, you’re full of shit” and me not firing her but stopping to listen and then forcing myself to pull my head out of my ass”… Age has also mellowed me out. (I’m 59) I find as I get older, I don’t operate from my ego as much, thank god… The point is, most of this country is intellectually lazy, uninformed, unapologetic but unabashedly belligerent about things they have no deep understanding about. Until we can all put down our pride and egos and self-righteous opinions, to stop, listen, and say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong”, there will be war. - I often wonder if the masses who backed Nixon during Watergate ever said, “I was wrong about him”. - My last point leading me to believe that Civil War is unavoidable is the complete lack of inaction. I have many friends who do understand the critical condition our democracy is in, but they are doing absolutely nothing. I remind them that big changes happened when people stood together - women’s suffrage, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage etc… Still, they do nothing and I stand at Voter’s Rights rallies with 50 other people in a state with 30 million people. (Texas) Again, it makes me wonder if Germans who watched their Jewish friends and neighbors taken away and did nothing, look back and say, “if we all had all stood up and done something, the Holocaust never would have happened”. I keep saying this to everyone I know or meet. The inaction combined with the lack of civic responsibility combined with the lack of knowledge and true understanding combined with emotional immaturity and belligerence is making me believe I need to leave this country that I have loved and once felt so proud of. America and Americans are unrecognizable to me now. I wish I knew what to do. I’m trying but failing… I do believe we are headed into a Civil War. The ONLY thing that could save us is a strong leader like a Susan B. Anthony or an MLK to bring us together. I wish Stacey Abrams or someone like her could lead us out of this dark place in history….
I want to see several high profile Democrats create a fund to counter Rep. lies. This could be managed by a few talented PR folks. Messages should be high impact, visual ( billboards), and clever but very obvious. I think millions of concerned citizens would be eager to financially support this endeavor. And, if a saturation campaign began soon, it might counter the Republican lies in the next election.
Robert and friends, I begin with a letter I sent to national newspapers two days ago:
Media alarmism at the exact moment we need responsibility and calm
To the editor:
On print media websites and live broadcasts on Jan. 2 (and undoubtedly the front page of newspapers on Jan. 3)—four days before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Insurrection—the national media trumpet uncritically and alarmingly the results of a University of Maryland/Washington Post opinion survey of only 1000 respondents that suggests that an apparently high percentage of respondents support political violence against government under certain unspecified circumstances. A yet to be detailed CBS survey supposedly supports this “finding.”
Knowledgeable readers and serious journalists must object strongly and loudly. This is irresponsible reporting on a sensitive current issue of great concern. It demands care and informed consideration. To begin, the sample size is small (the “margin of error” percentage is statistically irrelevant given the sample size); second, the reporters provide no information on the composition of the sample population.
Third, the reporters do not examine the wording of the questions and the contradictory readings of answers to them. Importantly, in certain circumstances, there may be legitimate, even constitutional grounds for a popular uprising against the government in power. This is hardly a question of the Big Lie alone. Finally, as previously, reporters ignore or have forgotten the results of a revealing September poll that indicated that at least 56% of admitted Trump voters felt overwhelming pressure not to reveal their current thinking about the results of the 2020 election, the Insurrection, and the Big Lie.
Alarmism is journalistic malpractice.
We face huge problems as I have argued here previously. But exaggerating them and talking a Civil War is both wrong headed and an inadequate historical analogy. The US in 2020-today does not compare with 1858-1860-65. No way. Despite TX and FL "seceding from reality" as I have just written (https://columbusfreepress.com/article/busting-myths-texas-and-florida-secede-reality-ohio-imitates), no one is seceding from the US. There is no bombing of a federal fort. Etc Etc.
We must do better and think knowledgeably about TODAY. and tomorrow. The immediate threat is individual gun-toking crazed individuals facilitated by Rep State Legis who can't read the Second Amendment (or First Amendment either) who may attack. Not by the daily diminishing Trumpists.
Can Republicans and Democrats continue to live in the same nation? Unfortunately, I think something terrible and explosive must happen before real change can take place, on a larger scale than January 6th. We are a divided nation and Civil War seems inevitable to me. Things will continue to remain unstable and get volatile. The Big Lie is defended by Republicans, many of whom know better, to perpetuate the racism that is at the center of the differences between the two sides. One key thought that may be difficult to accept is that if Trump runs again, HE WILL NOT LOSE. I also think the military may be divided, even though their loyalty is supposed to be with the commander in chief, Biden. If that commander in chief becomes Trump, we are in trouble. I live in Mississippi. Confederate flags are everywhere, even though we have a new state flag now. There are towns that have huge signs that say that Trump won. I stay to myself. I don't walk around the neighborhood, which I wish I could do, because my neighbors have a Confederate flag on their roof flanked by two Trump flags. Slavery and state's rights and westward expansion were at the heart of the first Civil War, so when Abe Lincoln was elected president, southern states seceded. 62,000 soldiers were killed. I would love to live in a diverse state, a democrat state, one that I don't feel like I have to hide in. I am half Thai, half caucasian. This is disconcerting to me, living where I live. I think of the Japanese people who ended up in internment camps after WWII. I am an over-thinker and tend to overreact to things in the news. But is what I'm saying so far fetched? Sometimes it takes something major to evoke change and a civil war is the most likely occurrence to do that. It is not a good solution but I don't see any other remedy than an outright war. I don't think I'm being cynical, just realistic. We must prepare ourselves for what is to come. We are living in a dangerous era.
Einstein, one of history's greatest thinkers once said, a problem of this magnitude & division can only be solved by a higher level of consciousness than the one that created it. I look to moral philosophy or religion as the "higher level of consciousness". Republicans, who now think like nihilists can not solve these problems. I would rather be approximately right, than definitely wrong.
When almost half our nation has eschewed reality, morality and the rule of law, the results are inevitable: civil war (maybe) or total social, philosophical and moral separation (certainly). I think we are in the beginning stages of real civil war. Never mind about the Russian or Chinese threats; They won't do anything rash, because any external threats would unite us. All they have to do is sit and watch us commit suicide. I believe that the South actually won the Civil War; it's just taking us a long time to realize it.
Ah, yes; civil war. Like O'Toole one shies away from talking about it for fear of it becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Prepare for it? How? How does one prepare for chaos? We can work to prevent it, however. And, the writers of today's comments offer some very good suggestions. I fear there is among our populace a notion that civil war is somehow romantic, indeed heroic-- FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS and all that fictional nonsense. We must work very, very hard to dispel them of that nonsensical view. In reality, civil war causes untold, unbelievable suffering to people and devastating destruction to property and civil order that compounds that suffering. I shudder to entertain the idea. To dispel, we will need to engage those hostile citizens who advocate for it either thru words or actions. A non-aggressive lead-in is "I see it a little differently" and then calmly but firmly tell them in no uncertain words how disruptive civil war is.
If we are to coexist, we must address racism and xenophobia, which always exist under the surface, ready to be exploited by unscrupulous plutocrats and politicians. According to an analysis I saw, the January 6 Capitol burglars, as I like to call them were most likely to come from counties that are rapidly diversifying, including some in which a majority voted for Biden. PBS Newshour did a report last night on a region of north Texas in which 35 people were arrested for their participation in the January 6 riot/burglary. Some cities in the region are among the fastest growing in the country, and the county in which they are located dropped from 63% white to 51% white in the past ten years. A Muslim woman who ran for City Council in 2020 was the target of relentless harassment and stereotyping lies. Unsurprisingly, she lost.
But, I point to my neighborhood of 460 homes as a sign of hope. It is demographically very diverse, with different races including at least two mixed-race couples, ethnicities, national origins, religions, a wide range of ages, and also political party affiliations. We also have a number of LGBT couples. During the 2020 election there were both Biden and Trump yard signs, and none was vandalized or stolen. We have made an effort to get along. One of my neighbors with whom I'm friendly is a partisan Republican, but we have worked together on hyperlocal issues in which we have a common interest. We even discuss politics sometimes without getting into an angry shouting match. So it is possible to get along, but it takes effort.
Unfortunately, the former guy used the enormous power and prestige of the presidency to promote divisiveness and to encourage violence. It will take awhile to undo that substantial damage. We need our current leaders to step up to repeatedly condemn divisiveness and violence. I also agree with other commenters that we need to do something about right wing media that use deceit and deception to foment anger and promote animosity.
Having participated in this forum for a few weeks now, I could not help but notice that the focus is very much on the Republican base's drift toward fascism. This is an undeniable fact but I think that it also needs to be put back in its proper context. In front of a blaze, firefighters do not worry at how high the flames are; they work at the level where the fire finds its combustible. One thing is Republican lawmakers with authoritarian tendencies, another is the combustible they find in disenfranchised, mostly white, poor, and under educated American people. Politicians and well-off people will support egregious views because they find a personal interest in doing so, whether it is to have their ego flattered or their bank account swelling up. They speak from a position of power. The Republican base, on the other hand, will adhere to the same views and vociferously support them because they themselves are lost and feel they need to scapegoat anyone who does not howl with the pack. As good firefighters, we should stop pointing at their madness and start taking care of what is causing it. This madness are the flames; they are impressive and can truly create chaos but they are also empty. Fox"news" and other propaganda outlets fan them as much as they can, yet the real cause of the fire, the combustible that fuels it, is the lack of politics geared toward the common good. Trumpists love their children too, at least the ones I have met, who are politically in cuckooland but humanly very kind persons. Bernie Sanders, of all people, believes in them. That is why he is not shy to explain his own views directly to them when he has the opportunity. That is the lesson, that is what we should do instead of running away in a panic because a bad draft of madness has seized the population. This draft can disappear as quickly as it flared up because it stands on nothing. So, let's not be impressed and let's get back in the proper perspective: fascism is not fought by taking its reasons seriously but by taking its causes seriously.
We need to force the issue. I honestly don’t believe a civil war can be avoided. While we have the power to do so we should get in front of it. Eliminate filibuster, protect voting rights. We are at war. Use everything we can to expose republicans as fascists. I have a neighbor that says BLM are responsible for January 6th. In other words she reserves the right to lie. She needs to be dealt with severely. There’s no negotiation. Racists narcissistic liars. Good luck negotiating with that trash. I’m not extremist but I can be when confronted. Ted Cruz is already planning to impeach Biden when they win mid terms. Has no interest in governing for the American people. They know what to do with power. We need to act. Biden also needs to forewarn the American people what’s coming. Number one issue. We are headed to a confrontation with fascism. Robert I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to taking out the trash. Want to activate the Democrats and normal Americans, this is it. America reborn. It’s time
Robert, there is something "off" about all this foment: It is coming from the top, not the bottom. The agents-provocateurs are nicely suited and well coiffed. Most are on the public payroll or on the payroll of major media organizations. Yes, the angst they have whipped up in the public at large is real enough and dangerous.
But this is not revolution in the making - it is a putsch. A putsch originates inside the palace walls; a revolution comes from outside the palace walls. This is an astroturf putsch, not a grassroots revolution.
I would like Merrick Garland to speak softly and carry a big stick.
If Democrats don’t retain control of both Houses in 22, the future I see unfolding is one of utter chaos, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the loss of trust both in government and also in mainstream institutions of American life.
In my view, the most decisive event over the next two weeks is the scheduled Senate vote that will determine whether Democrats will have enacted a filibuster rule change that will allow for a check on GOP controlled State Legislatures that unilaterally continue to pass bill after bill that restricts voting and nullifies votes. Because we nearly are running out the clock on democracy itself, I see no choice aside from exhausting every possibility to arrive at a rule change both Manchin and Sinema will accept.
My understanding is that, while both Manchin and Sinema support the two companion voter protection bills, neither currently supports a filibuster carve-out nor do they support changing the 60-vote threshold to end debate. Seeing that Schumer needs all 50 Senators to sign on to a filibuster rule change, an option proposed by former Chief Counsel to Ted Kennedy, Jeff Blattner, could work. For “major” legislation, it would ensure “the minority a full debate and the right to offer relevant amendments.” However, “after an extended period…without the offering of an amendment gaining bipartisan support, the supporters of the bill [e.g. the Freedom to Vote Act] could move to invoke cloture (the cutting off of debate) by a simple majority vote.” For me, the brilliance of this proposal, or some version of it possibly under consideration, is that it comes closer to meeting Manchin’s and Sinema’s demands than any other I’ve reviewed, and it ends McConnell’s veto over the will of the majority.