American Revolution/Civil War possible?

July 20, 2019
Is an American Revolution/Civil War possible in the future?

It doesn’t matter how you feel about our current president, and it does no good to say, “If the Republicans or the Democrats would only do, or say, or accept sensible policies everything would work out.” We all keep blaming the other side. It has become so much like a married couple who just cannot admit to having been complacent in the issues that have caused the problems.

We have allowed ourselves to become extremely divided. And, I don’t believe that will change when one party or the other dominates all legislative branches as well as the judicial and the executive. In an ideal situation that would not happen. We need checks and balances but, neither party when in power wants checks and balances. Donald Trump is not the cause of the divisiveness that we are experiencing, but he has certainly poured gasoline on the flame.
We can look back on history and see many incidents that could be the spark that started us on the road to a divided nation. The Supreme Court ruling that banned religious symbols in government institutions, or the rule that made abortion legal. The Civil rights legislation under President Johnson could have been the spark. The spark could have also been the New Deal that President Roosevelt implemented in spite of Republican objection. Even the passing of the 13th amendment could have been the catalyst. Passing sensible legislation or electing a popular government legislator doesn’t guarantee that the citizenry agrees with it. We can find so many cases where people resented what was happening in the country and passing those resentments on to the next generation, so it should not be too difficult to see the cumulative effect of all that came before to create where we are today.

In 1996 Carl T Rowan published, The Coming Race War in America: A Wake Up Call, An all-out race war hasn’t happened, but there is growing resentment between whites and people of color. Many white nationalist groups now identify with the Republican Party. While the party doesn’t officially embrace such groups, they also do not condemn them. The Christian Right seems to be in lockstep with such groups as well. Antifa (Anti-Fascist) groups are popping up as opposition groups to white nationalist groups. As these groups grow and possibly flourish the possibility of violence grows such as happened Charlottesville, VA. If such clashes should become more frequent and in turn more violent states will eventually be forced to employ The National Guard as a back up to the police. The people of Red States would blame the people of Blue States for the violence, and the people of Blue states would blame the Red States. Conflicts could arise between states as it did before the Civil War.

We should remember that the road to Revolution is long and is paved with many of the perceived or actual wrongs mentioned above. The American Revolution, The Civil War, World War I, The Russian Revolution, World War II, Vietnam, all took years of back and forth disagreements to finally come to a head. I believe that we are already in the midst of a soft revolution that is going to be hard to reconcile without at least some bloodshed and a dismantling of at least some of our institutions. I am not advocating internal war and I hope that I am wrong. Ten years ago I would have called myself crazy for even thinking what I have presented here. But, now I don’t know and it scares me.