Prediction of a New Civil War?

A recent poll indicates that almost a third of likely voters are fearful that the United States will experience a new civil war within five years. Polls are remarkably unreliable as predictors, but they can gauge levels of public sentiment or mood. Similar polls have indicated fears that opposition to the current Administration policies might result in violence. That is not, of course, the same a open rebellion and civil war. It does, however, gauge the level of division and polarization among the populace.

I believe that it is hyperbole to predict that an open civil war is on the horizon. However, a tacit civil war over the soul and substance of the nation may well have already begun. We have an insular group invested in white supremacy and oligarchical capitalism holding reins of administrative authority. From this bastion, they issue policies and exercise brutal police state power and violence. Such actions, despite patronizing pronouncements, are not to protect public or national safety, but rather to preserve privilege and retain power.

Propaganda and false rhetoric are used to goad the weaker minded and the resentfully insecure to engage in attacks on any designated by the insular group as "other." These include people of color, women who believe in self determination as to their actions and their bodies [including reproductive rights], Muslims. The policies are intended to oppress and enslave the "other" and to exploit the vulnerable for political gain. The agencies that function as the infrastructure of government have been placed in the control of ideologues rather than under leadership of experts with actual knowledge or experience in the areas to be guided or regulated. The Fourth Estate, a fundamental component of a functional democracy, has been publicly branded as an "enemy" of the Administration and its followers. And the Administration is poised to seize control of the Supreme Court, the arbiter of the Rule of Law. Cities have had to declare themselves as "sanctuaries" in opposition to abusive exercise of national police state power.

Those who would question the actions of the insular group are either publicly branded as "liberals" [as though it were an epithet-it may surprise you to read the actual definition] or they are harassed and intimidated into silence. The insular group resorts to policies and practices that are patently inhumane [by international human rights standards] and unconscionably violent, often merely to stoke fervor and hatred among followers, to promote a cult like entourage of sycophants. The group invents bastardized interpretations of founding precepts, or else simply ignores Constitutional tenets, and claims such transmogrified notions as guiding principles.

If these descriptions of current affairs appear strikingly similar to the Southern Confederacy, to the Third Reich, and to other despotic regimes, it is perhaps not merely coincidence. When US leadership expresses "admiration" for despots who jail opposition and order killing of dissidents living in exile through use of neurotoxins [Putin], or who publicly executes dissidents, family members who might gain power, or just public servants who "disappoint" the leader [Kim Jung Un], the deterioration of government and society should be less surprising.

The current polarization and struggle for the identity and conscience of the nation is no less dramatic or less consequential than the divide and principles at issue during the civil war. There is still a glimmer of hope that a plebiscite in November can begin to restore some balance and redemption. However, even the electoral process has been compromised and corrupted by the insular group to tip the balance in its favor. So, while I would not predict a civil war in the immediate future, it would be fair to suggest that we are teetering on the brink.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/poll-almost-a-third-of-us-voters-think-a-second-civil-war-is-coming-soon/ar-AAzglF4?li=BBnb7Kz

Let's Review the Bidding, or State of the Union: Midpoint 2018

If one doubts that we are in "trouble" [with a capital "T" that rhymes with "P" and that stands for Pool...sorry, got a little carried away] then consider some basis facts regarding the current state of the Union as "governed" predominantly by the GOP.

There is a president who could be charitably described, based upon firm evidence, to be a petulant, churlish and megalomaniacal narcissist. When arriving for a so-called "historic" meeting between PUTHOP and North Korean Leader Kim Jung Un, the president nearly blew up the entire planned meeting by insisting on a timetable that was convenient for HIM, but would have disrupted the North Korean Delegation and all planning that went into the meeting. Only when his aides explained to him that the change he demanded would mean he would lose worldwide TV coverage did he relent.

Consider that the major agencies of government are run by individuals patently incompetent to manage them. Housing and Urban Development, Education, Energy are all run by individuals who have admitted and demonstrated the lack of experience and competency to run these major organs of government.

Consider that the Attorney General, responsible for upholding Constitutional separation of church and state relies upon the "Bible" to supposedly justify actions generally deemed criminal violations of human rights by the rest of the world. Tearing children from their parents using tactic previously seen only in Nazi concentration camps [telling parents that children are being taken for "baths" and then never returning the children to their parents]. Those children are detained in chain-link fenced cages in what are euphemistically called "detention centers."

Consider that the Speaker of the House, who is responsible for oversight committees that supervise government agency actions and budget claims to "know nothing about" major corruption at the EPA. Consider that there is a Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of State that continually insult and alienate our strongest historical allies and initiate trade wars and destruction of major multinational accords.

And Consider that we have a majority in the SCOTUS that appears to condone restrictive practices such as purging voter lists in order to prevent people from voting to overturn the current regime. The current state of the SCOTUS was reached because the Senate, under GOP control, prevented a well qualified nominee legally put forward by the prior Administration from being installed. That same Senate leadership is furiously getting Federal judges seated, including individual with NO significant trial of high level judicial experience, but who espouse right wing ideology.

The Budget Deficit is growing as the non-partisan CBO projected that it would as a result of a huge tax cut that has reduced revenue from corporate taxes and shifted wealth to the top 1%. While the economy seems to be relatively stable, subject to disruption by arbitrary and counterproductive tariffs and trade wars, the healthy economy has not resulted in significant wage gains. Home ownership is increasingly out of reach for the poor and middle class. Disruptions of protections under the Affordable Care Act now threaten the financial stability of millions of families, and financial ruin to families who have substantial health care issues and especially those with "pre-existing conditions."

Even the controlling GOP Party is having major disputes among themselves, one senator accusing the party of acting like a "cult." Others responded by chiding him and demanding that he only make statements that are consistent with the "Party Agenda" or say nothing.

From the lens of the rest of the world, the United States is viewed as being led by an unstable and unreliable president who cannot be trusted or relied upon by allies as they had done in the past, even with changes of Administrations. The united States has pulled out of Major multinational accords, such as the Paris Accord, TPP, Iran Nuclear Agreement. NAFTA is also in grave danger. At the same time, personal insults and threats by PUTHOP are accompanied by imposition of tariffs on countries based upon false "justifications." The President cites "national security" as a justification primarily because no one can explain what the term means. However, it is clear that the countries and trade attacked have no relationship to what has historically been thought of as a "threat" to national security, military or
economic.

With the foregoing [and the recitation is by no means a complete list] issues we see dysfunction in virtually every branch of government and a lack of a clear path to make course corrections. GOP candidates for local state and federal office include white supremacists, a formal brothel owner, openly racist and homophobic individuals who not only hold beliefs antithetical to decency and democracy, but feel fully enabled to espouse such discriminatory, hateful and amoral attitudes and opinions as campaign slogans.

And the media, the Fourth Estate that is charged with supporting an informed citizenry, act like trained seals barking and flopping about at whatever the PUTHOP Administration or the aforesaid extremists toss them, without significant professional judgment as to whether what is being reported and newsworthy. Indeed, many stories are posted that include claims that the media outlet KNOW are false and misleading. Yet they fail to act professionally and reject publication that would place them in the position of a propaganda tool.

In all of these dire observations there is at least one ray of hope. Students who have survived horrible attacks and massacre of their classmates have recognized and called out the failure of "adult" leadership to address these basic responsibilities of government officials to act for the public benefit and support the common good. These young people are mobilizing to register and VOTE. And they are aware and focused upon voting out individuals who reflect the problems described above. So "open up the pool halls, let the young people gather" and enable them to reclaim the values of the nation that current "leadership" has abandoned or lost sight of. But our Union and our fate rests on the shoulders of each one of us. WSe OWN what we will CONDONE.