I published a blog (Living at ground zero) a few days ago focusing on my hypothesis that we are approaching the second Civil War.
I was surprised to find that the readers who wrote in comments had no sense of what the possible new Civil War is about.
I had better explain it.
Americans are deeply divided on several issues that are closely intertwined.
Republicans, conservatives and the Tea Party are convinced that government expansion has reached the limits at which a free commercial society can operate successfully. They, we, believe that the country has seen serious economic decline as a result of expansion of government employment, government debt and regulatory restrictions. The economic future looks grim.
This alone would be a political division but would not generate civil war like feelings.
On top of this there is a sense that the Democratic Party and the president have absolutely no regard for constitutional limits on their power.
* The Congress already passed a health care bill that the public opposed. Congress used unprecedented manipulative tactics.
* The president never hesitated to make Labor Board appointments that the Senate opposed.
* The president has directed his regulatory agencies to vastly expand their commercial inhibiting regulations without any congressional support.
The Democratic Party is pursuing, with complete unwillingness to admit any dispute, shackles and onerous restraints on American commerce in the belief that the planet is warming at a dangerous rate caused by humans in their daily activity.
Lastly, the president and his political minions have unhesitatingly insulted the opposition party and refused any bipartisan negotiation in the interests of the country. A precedent unseen in America since 1862.
All of this, with the exception of one media outlet, has massive media support. The vast mainstream media has condoned and enthusiastically supported most of this Leftist behavior at a time when more than half of Americans disagree. The public hears virtually no major media criticism of the dangerous behavior they observe. This onesided argument is inflamatory.
This sense that America is being betrayed by its major institutions and by a president who represents a small part of the public is the source of one side of the civil dispute.
The other side, the Democratic Left, has felt that they are the dominant mainstream of America. They are entirely right in their historic mission to civilize America. They are furious that there is opposition to their rational and humane goals. They vilify those who don’t believe in greater income equality and support for the under class.
That is the basis for our imminent civil dispute.
That may be enough to bring angry guerrillas into the Castro District of San Francisco ready to fire on anyone they see. They feel the way John Brown did in 1859 at Harpers Ferry. You know the name John Brown because his moral outrage became the marching song of the Grand Army of the Republic.