Despite political climate, a civil war in this day and age likely won't happen
There is always some crazy talk in the ether, but perhaps the craziest of all is that “We’re headed toward another Civil War.”
The Blue vs. the Red? Sure thing. Will never happen. Not in a country with 50 states, 3,144 counties, each housing both Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and that split includes entire neighborhoods, blocks, streets.
Is one group going to stay east of 281, and the opposition, to the west?
Or are we just going to divide the entire U.S. into north and south regions?
Who can keep up?
Still, the societal, political split we see today, even in the RGV, between those who love the president and those who can’t stand him and his administration, is either dividing some families, or they’re not speaking to one another.
“Go get your own apartment.”
Back to the 1860s
If you want to find a time when the dinner table was as much of a battlefield as it might be today, one has to travel all the way back to 1861.
During that civil war, families were split down the middle by geography and blood. In that familial mix, with canons, rifles blasting that left approximately 700,000 dead, there were some very strange cases like that of Mary Todd Lincoln, whose own brothers (three half-brothers and one full brother) fought for the Confederacy while her husband led the Union.
No wonder Abe had fits of melancholy, not counting the death of his 11-year-old son inside the White House in 1862.
By the way, I bought a book recently about Lincoln.
“Didn’t know you could read.”
Thanks.
As I was saying, I bought a book recently about Abe, which is really a compilation of his letters dating back to 1831 when he was only 22, all the way up until his assassination.
“Delphi Classics – Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works.”
Fascinating stuff. I hate to say that in some ways, the vibe in the air then reminds me of today, but it does. And I’m just getting to the part where Lincoln wants the South to return Fort Sumter.
Still, since there is no geographic division line today, as there was in the 1860s, north and south, another civil war between two warring factions – Blue vs. the Red – isn’t possible.
“Kristi Noem is a traitor.”
“So is Chuck Schumer.”
And so it goes.
If there was a clear line of division, sad to say, guns would probably already be blazing.
“Grab me another beer and my gun.”
“You’re a traitor to this country.”
That’s the degree of vitriol today most of us see in this country, and it’s just the start of the new year with the midterms not too far off. It’s a sort of pure hatred between people, animosity waiting to explode, that outstrips the Viet Nam protests, the Chicago Democrat Convention, and the sad chain of events at Kent State.
Whoever promoted this “Us vs. Them” mentality succeeded.
The Generation Gap
People old enough to remember often point to the Viet Nam era as a comparison with what’s going on today but it’s not even close if you include the occasional comic flare:
“Bad Bunny sucked.”
“So did Kid Rock.”
There was certainly enough friction back in the 1960s — the “anti-war crowd” vs. the “silent majority.”
One side carried a bong while the other side carried the Bible. Dads, most, still sported hairstyles from back in the 1940s while their kids grew their hair long and walked around sans a bra. (The women, not the guys.)
Not in the RGV so much, but up in Austin, San Francisco, Houston, the scenery was certainly changing.
After “Tricky Dick” left office Aug. 8, 1974, waving his last goodbye from the White House lawn as he boarded Marine One (helicopter), the rest of the 1970s was pretty boring in comparison. Gerald Ford handed Nixon a pardon, but most people were just happy he was gone. Let bygones be bygones.
Things cooled down even if the economy wasn’t great.
Then Jimmy Carter won the Oval Office, and things ratcheted down even more in terms of street protests, since the war in Viet Nam had officially ended in 1975.
Gas, though, was suddenly a problem, as it skyrocketed to $1 a gallon for the first time in late 1980, in large part, thanks to the Iranian Revolution, which hit right before Carter lost to Ronald Reagan.
When Carter took office in January of 1977, the average cost of gas was still approximately 66 cents a gallon, which seemed low unless one compared the price to what it cost just four years prior -- .32 cents/gallon.
Reagan came in, the former actor and governor of California, and suddenly, the federal budget deficit meant nothing to either Democrat or Republican. Which hearkens back to that old political saying – when both sides agree, you know the taxpayer is about to get the weenie. (Apologies to Anthony Weiner.)
For example, when Reagan took office in January 1981, the fiscal year federal budget deficit was $79 billion.
Four years later, with the help of Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, the same budget deficit hung at $212 billion. (Source: Cato Institute.)
The military-industrial complex was beaming.
George H.W. Bush followed, but the economy proved to be his downfall, just as it had with Carter .
Clinton came in, and with the help of Newt the Toot, the federal budget got balanced.
But, too, during that time, China, the big, bad communist country we had fought for years via its proxy, Viet Nam, was suddenly rich beyond belief as it was allowed entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The corporate owners in search of better profits shuttered American manufacturing plants by the hundreds, thousands, as they stripped American workers of their livelihoods and moved those jobs to Beijing, where they could pay workers dimes on the dollar .
Other jobs went to Mexico and beyond.
Everyone prospered except for the American worker, and that deal with China was done with the help of both Republicans and Democrats.
The Death Threats
During the 1990s, the 2000s, even with the Bush wars and Obama’s two terms, the country was never split like it is today.
The many death threats against public officials are certainly new, and they cross the political divide.
Today, politics has become a “MAGA-identity.” If one family member sees Trump as the “greatest president ever,” and another sees him as a “fascist,” they aren’t just disagreeing on taxes — they are questioning each other’s moral core.
A 2022 Pew Research study found that a majority of partisans now see the other side as “downright evil” or a threat to the nation.
Once you label your brother/sister as “evil,” the psychological “disinhibition” kicks in. People stop trying to understand one another, and they start trying to excise the “cancer” from the family .
A terrible thing, to be sure, but it is what it is.
And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon.