The Next American Civil War

NOTE: Originally published on Facebook: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 

The United States may be on the brink of another civil war. I’ve hinted at that in many previous posts but I think it’s time to elaborate and explain myself. Of course, I’m not the first one to hint at this or outright say it. However, this next civil war has the potential to kill as many people, but last much longer than the last one (1861 to 1865). It could very well be, what the military calls, “a low intensity conflict” rather than a stand up fight between two opposing armies.

Yes, the US is a divided country, as it has been since its founding on a variety of issues, but the republican form of government is designed to temper that division so disagreements are solved peacefully and not with guns. That is why power changes hands without anyone dying or being deposed, which isn’t the norm in most of the world.

The failure of this brilliant system in the mid 19th century came about because of irreconcilable differences within the country that were sown at its founding. The idea of “all men are created equal” could not coexist with slavery. The Civil War proved that a nation founded on ideas can be torn apart by other ideas. In the case of the Civil War, the idea of equality before the law was uniquely American/Western while the idea of slavery/racial inferiority was a remnant of the colonial era. 

Today, irreconcilable differences exist among Americans and we are close, if not already at, an impasse. Either way, the violence has already started and casualties are piling up. Politicians have taken sides and, in some cases, have enabled the violence to escalate.

On the one side are the traditional constitutional ideas involving individual freedom and individual responsibility. The US Constitution was written specifically to preserve individual liberties, allowing a man to go as far as his talents and work will take him without interference from some collective or the government. He is free to succeed or fail on his own merits with a limited government powerless to stop either. It may have taken a civil war and another hundred years of reconciliation and civil rights struggles, but that idea finally came into full bloom.

On the opposite side is the idea of collectivism. Contemporary collectivism has its roots in communism. Instead of the collective conflict being centered on class, contemporary collectivism has expanded the idea into an amalgam of “oppressed” and “oppressive” groups. Essentially, the “oppressor” is the white straight male, while the “oppressed” consists of blacks, gays, transsexuals, women and any amorphous trendy group that isn’t white.

So what is the remedy for this “oppression”? The communist or socialist uses redistribution of wealth and a centralized command economy to achieve equality in results and not just equality before the law. The modern collectivist not only seeks redistribution of wealth, but forcible “integration” and promotion of the “oppressed” groups, especially if it comes at the expense of the “oppressors”.

The “Alt-Right” is the sibling of these collectivists in the same way the Nazi (national socialist) was the twin of the communist in the 1920s and 30s. The only difference between the two is that the Nazi believed that German workers had more in common with other German workers than they did with foreign workers. The communist believes in world wide revolution and the brotherhood of all workers, whatever the nationality. To say that the Nazis were “right wing” is a slight of hand that communists use to obscure their close lineage.

The American “Alt-Right” is no direct descendant of the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nation. It is a response to the identity politics of the Left over the past decade. After all, since straight white males have been demonized, especially on the American college campus, it was inevitable that some would see a collective “white identity” as something to rally around. The Alt-Right is no less collectivist than the Leftists they oppose. Anyone labeling the Alt-Right as “conservative” or “Republican” is engaging in misinformation since their belief system runs contrary to conservative constitutional thinking.

How do street battles between two collectivist groups like Antifa and Unite the Right lead to civil war? By itself, it doesn’t. However, when the media gives groups like Antifa cover after attacking innocent Americans, the resentment and tension build. When Democrats holding elected office permit Antifa to run rampant in the streets to assault people and destroy property, ordinary people may find it necessary to take matters into their own hands. Then the violence only spreads.

The tipping point rests on the Presidency of Donald Trump. Ever since his election, leading Democrats have outright stated their desire to remove him from office. It doesn’t matter what President Trump says or does, that seems to be the goal of Antifa’s media sympathizers and the Democratic Party. Worse is the open talk of assassination amongst Leftists. A loss of faith in the constitutional system or a violent Leftist uprising could very well destabilize the country.

This doesn’t happen to a strong, resolute people with definitive values. However, American constitutional values have been undermined since then end of the Cold War by professors in the universities, teachers in public schools, the news anchors and the tech giants who don’t really believe in them. It seems the Cold War transformed communism from an external enemy to an internal one. This enemy needs to be confronted and defeated.