Is America heading for another Civil War?

No, the rifts aren’t big enough, in my opinion.

No, although we are heading into an age when there will be more conflict between all minorities within the Country.

I don’t think it’s nearly that dire. I do think that we are becoming more polarized as moderate Republicans continue to be forced out of the party over ideological litmus tests.

This is quite unfortunate, because the country needs a genuine opposition party with strongly held ethical and philosophical ideals.

We have been down this nativist path before; it generally happens at times of great change. This too shall pass, but as long as it lingers there will continue to be a noisy and thoughtless Right Wing.

“Noisy and thoughtless right wing,” and a mindless and lazy left wing. We need a third option!

Hell no. Those days are long gone! I think people are more tolerant nowadays than they are given credit for. However, some of that tolerance may be due to ignorance, though ignorance can also be a birthing ground for intolerance, too.

All great empires seem to come to a demise sooner or later. Will it be civil war? I doubt it. But there is class warfare taking place right now, and as long as the politicians who are suppose to represent us are beholden to corporations I see no end to it.

@CaptainHarley It’s a damn shame, but the reality is both parties are scared to death what might happen if another were actually let into the arena. Especially in the debates.

third and maybe a fourth option are some thing we all need that I can agree with right wing left wing no difference between the two at all any more there both about money, civil war possibly in the far future but for now I dont see it happening

I wish.

No I don’t want to see violence but this never ending gum flapping with zero action is getting on my nerves to the point that I wouldn’t mind seeing some “putting their money where their mouth is” action.

I don’t think it will ever come to that as there are just too many self-medications available to dull the outrage. Prozapathy.

Yes. The new civil war is just around the corner. Be sure to have plenty of bottled water handy. Also thank the (insert your deity here) above for the 2nd amendment and be sure you are locked and loaded!

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility, though at the moment I don’t think tensions/polarities are great enough that it’s going to happen any time soon. The main division I see is that radical conservatives and conservative Christians are pulling farther and farther away from the mainstream. They, of course, have every right to believe most of what they believe (I say “most” because there are some racist/bigoted views in there), but it seems as if they like the division. I’ve also seen some documentaries that suggest that there is a portion of the radical right that would welcome such a fight.

Another thing to think about, as I do occasionally, is that we may come to find our government is a failed experiment. I see a lot of similarities to ancient Rome, in that corruption follows decadence. Compared to many countries, we are pretty rich and spoiled, yet there are so many people living below the poverty level and really scraping to get by.

A civil war (now that’s an oxymoron) implies two distinct sides. If all the embattled groups in the U.S. became involved in war with one another, it would be a huge clusterf**k of death and destruction.

@Mavericksjustdoinganotherflyby… Exactly! I forsee a third party by the end of 2010, largely as a result of use of the Internet.

There shall be no viable 3rd party in the USA.

@CaptainHarley How do you imagine that party will be constituted? What will its ideals be?

The pro-gays vs the anti-gays was what I thought about at first
but no there will be no civil war

@pdworkin… the only way I can answer this question is from my own perspective. Any successful political animal is the product of consensus, which can only be developed over time. Having said that, I would recommend some basic principles:
1. The less government, the better, consonant with law enforcement, national defense, and job creation.
2. Anyone who CAN work must either do so or lose the benefits of being a citizen. This would most likely entail a new sort of WPA, or something similar.
3. Anyone who pays taxes should have a greater say in the government’s operation.
4. There should be an office of resource allocation which should be free from political influence and should be tasked with the long-term survival of the Nation and by extension, the long-term survival of the human race.
5. Education is the foundation of the future. Those who educate must be called to very high standards indeed.
6. Parents should be held responsible for their children becoming contributing members of society.
7. Politics should not be dominated by money, nor motivated by greed.
8. Leaders should serve for limited periods of time at all levels, and must suffer severe penalties for ethical and performance lapses.
9. Elections should be as open and honest as is humanly possible.
10. The nation should work toward greater levels of participatory democracy, and there should be provision for “Recall” at all levels.

Just a few that spring to mind. Keep in mind that “the devil is in the details” where most of these are concerned.

So @CaptainHarley, you feel such a (Libertarian sounding, for the lack of a better description) third party is a real possibility by 2010? Whom would we field as a candidate?

@pdworkin Damned If I know! : D

With apologies to our northern neighbors, allow me to post the poem “W.L.M.K.” by F.R. Scot…

How shall we speak of Canada,
Mackenzie King dead?
The Mother’s boy in the lonely room
With his dog, his medium and his ruins?

He blunted us.

We had no shape
Because he never took sides,
And no sides
Because he never allowed them to take shape.

He skilfully avoided what was wrong
Without saying what was right,
And never let his on the one hand
Know what his on the other hand was doing.

The height of his ambition
Was to pile a Parliamentary Committee on a Royal Commission,
To have “conscription if necessary
But not necessarily conscription,”
To let Parliament decide…
Later.

Postpone, postpone, abstain.

Only one thread was certain:
After World War I
Business as usual,
After World War II
Oderly decontrol.
Always he led us back to where we were before.

He seemed to be in the centre
Because we had no centre,
No vision
To pierce the smoke-screen of his politics.

Truly he will be remembered
Wherever men honour ingenuity,
Ambiguity, inactivity, and political longevity.

Let us raise up a temple
To the cult of mediocrity,
Do nothing by halves
Which can be done by quarters.

Those of you who do not think that a civil war can or will happen again in America, I direct your attention to other country’s civil wars and the basis for them.
.
Division along racial, class or cultural lines
High unemployment
A government out of touch with its people
Religious debate or intolerance
Political divisiveness to the point of intolerance
Lack of basic social services – Detroit, anyone???
.
Nope, none of those things are a problem here in the good ole USA so just change the channel and see who’s ahead on American Idol. Shheeeesh!

@Corporate_Avenger… and your point? America subscribes to the rule of law. Break the law and you suffer the consequences. People are free here to “petition the government for redress of grievances,” but not to riot or resort to terrorism.

The Government seems to have much less hesitance to call in troops dangerously close to violating ‘posse comatatus’; illegal use of armed forces against our own people. I fear a shooting war coming. Not over race, politics, but over something stupid. I don’t forsee what that stupid is, but it’s coming.

Oh, yeah. That just happened at Kent State in Ohio a couple of months ago. Four dead, if I remember correctly.

@majorrich I live in upstate NY, and I remember when Cheney wanted to call in troops to invade find terrorists in Buffalo.

@majorrich… just one more reason why we need to junk the two political parties we have and find a more viable alternative.

The pressures are indeed developing. However, think of what would happen if enough militias were to muster and all they did was simply block the road and rail traffic from passing through their county. The supermarkets would run out of food and the gas stations would run of gas very quickly even if there wasn’t a run on them in the ensuing panic. Anyone without a stockpile would soon be more interested in feeding themselves than anything else.

@hiphiphopflipflapflop .. And the likelihood of this happening without a police response approaches zero as a limit.

@CaptainHarley – My point was and is that if you pile the tinder high enough, add accelerant and allow an errant spark to fly the wrong way, the winds of war will blow a minor issue into a full scale engagement in a hurry. It’s happened in history many times and anyone who thinks that we are immune to it simply by way of being American or because of our Constitution is willfully ignorant. In fact, it is in defense of the liberties in our Constitution that may ignite that aforementioned spark.
.
As far as police and military response, that will happen to a degree commensurate to the overall problem and its cause. But if it appears that the government is out of control, there may not be the kind of military response you might think.

@Corporate_Avenger… I think it highly unlikely the government would be sufficiently “out of control” as to be incapable of responding to any sign of immanent civil war, or even civil conflict on a smaller scale. It’s difficult to hypothesize without being more specific about the causes.

@CaptainHarley – So who’s ahead on American Idol or are you more a Dancing with the Stars fan?

@Corporate_Avenger… Neither. We only use cable for the computers. : )

No.

Yes

homeland security seems to believe it may be coming. People who are stocking up on ammunition etc are being labeled as possible terrorists. What was that report issued a few months back warning of these groups getting too big? Somebody here must know.

If Homeland Security thinks it is coming than you can be certain there will be no civil war.

LMAO!

That would be Governmental intelligence.

@majorrich An oxymoron if I ever heard one.