Civil War
I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming elections, the divided state of our country, the rhetoric coming from both sides of the cultural divide, and the need for resolution. Trump is now tampering with the mail and declaring that any voting other than absentee ballots (and why not absentee ballots I have no idea) are subject to fraud. He has refused to commit to relinquishing the presidency if he is not re-elected. The left has speculated that he will use any means he can to remain in office up to and including invalidating the election results. Both sides are unconvinced that we can hold fair and free elections.
Public protests are either cast as good and necessary trouble that encourages us to strive for our highest ideals or as civil unrest that is the direct result of a nation that has fallen prey to the foulest of social leanings and is enthralled by a fourth estate that is feeding it lies and misinformation. The protesters and I cite here both those on the left, for example, Black Lives Matter, and on the right, for example, open-carry advocates are in equal measure passionate about their causes and willing to demonize their opponents. IN short, we, as a nation, have all but lost the ability to find common ground on which to stand and a common language in which to converse.
This leads me to the conclusion that we are already engaged in a civil war - A Cold Civil War. It also leads to the question of whether or not this Cold Civil War could or will become an actual shooting war. To be clear, there have already been violent skirmishes. One need look further than the car barreling into protestors in Charlotte or the BLM demonstrators in Portland throwing tear gas canisters back to the police. To be clear, I a not equating or judging the relative harm or justification of either of those events. I am merely using them to point out that violence has already been attached to the current Cold Civil War. Given this violence, I wonder what could trigger a large scale escalation of this war.
The nearest trigger, in my mind, is the upcoming elections. If Trump wins, I think there will be rumblings and discontent. Perhaps there will be cries of an unfair election and certainly demonstrations, but I don't think that would be sufficient to turn the current Cold Civil War into a shooting war. If Biden wins, however, I am inclined to think that this could turn into an actual Civil War. There has been plenty of speculation that TRumo might not leave the White House choosing instead to declare the results invalid. I think that this would embolden his supporters to take to the streets. That, in and of itself, is still within the bounds of a functioning society.
The break in civil society, would, I believe, occur if the situation drags on the there are protests and counter-protests. At that point, the mix Trump supporters openly bringing weapons to demonstrations, tensions between them and the counter-demonstrators, the addition of the police and possibly the military could lead to the, at first, a violent incident and then to violent clashes which could lead to all-out armed conflict. IN short, there exists the potential for a post-election Civil War.
Public protests are either cast as good and necessary trouble that encourages us to strive for our highest ideals or as civil unrest that is the direct result of a nation that has fallen prey to the foulest of social leanings and is enthralled by a fourth estate that is feeding it lies and misinformation. The protesters and I cite here both those on the left, for example, Black Lives Matter, and on the right, for example, open-carry advocates are in equal measure passionate about their causes and willing to demonize their opponents. IN short, we, as a nation, have all but lost the ability to find common ground on which to stand and a common language in which to converse.
This leads me to the conclusion that we are already engaged in a civil war - A Cold Civil War. It also leads to the question of whether or not this Cold Civil War could or will become an actual shooting war. To be clear, there have already been violent skirmishes. One need look further than the car barreling into protestors in Charlotte or the BLM demonstrators in Portland throwing tear gas canisters back to the police. To be clear, I a not equating or judging the relative harm or justification of either of those events. I am merely using them to point out that violence has already been attached to the current Cold Civil War. Given this violence, I wonder what could trigger a large scale escalation of this war.
The nearest trigger, in my mind, is the upcoming elections. If Trump wins, I think there will be rumblings and discontent. Perhaps there will be cries of an unfair election and certainly demonstrations, but I don't think that would be sufficient to turn the current Cold Civil War into a shooting war. If Biden wins, however, I am inclined to think that this could turn into an actual Civil War. There has been plenty of speculation that TRumo might not leave the White House choosing instead to declare the results invalid. I think that this would embolden his supporters to take to the streets. That, in and of itself, is still within the bounds of a functioning society.
The break in civil society, would, I believe, occur if the situation drags on the there are protests and counter-protests. At that point, the mix Trump supporters openly bringing weapons to demonstrations, tensions between them and the counter-demonstrators, the addition of the police and possibly the military could lead to the, at first, a violent incident and then to violent clashes which could lead to all-out armed conflict. IN short, there exists the potential for a post-election Civil War.