It'll never happen, the US military is far too strong.
Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
121–130 of 445 posts
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#122One of the biggest problems is that most current gun violence doesn't necessarily represent any sort of targeted pattern (i.e. shooting up a political convention or party headquarters). It's malls and schools because that's such an easy way to create shock and awe. If we do wind up in some sort of civil conflict, I imagine it will look a lot like Ireland from the 60's to the 90's, which was by no means a good time.[0…
Yeah it's really hard to imagine a full blown civil war just because of what the battlelines would be in a right-left split in the country.
I've heard people jokingly say, "One side collects guns and the other collects mental disorders."
That's obviously an unfair shot but there's some truth to it.
Left leaning areas tend to be centered around city centers where right leaning areas tend to be rural and control things like shipping and food production.
The police and the military all have a noticeable conservative bend at least at the lower levels.
This wouldn't be a north vs south situation where each side would be roughly equally matched.
In a true right vs left civil war, at least as the politics line up right now, the right faction would win by simply isolating and choking off the cities.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#123more than half of americans are unfit for a bar fight let alone a war. I hate to say it but these kinds of surveys are pretty weak. I recall a friend who's a history buff telling me something along the lines of non-professional soldiers often refuse to shoot their firearms, or intentionally miss, because people often don't truly want to kill. A quick google suggests some credibility to this claim[1]. I always try to…
My understanding is that was based on research from SLA Marshall which might have been fabricated [0].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.L.A._Marshall#Research_metho...
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#124I don't see what problems a civil war or secession would solve. America is very purple - what would we do with, say, Illinois? Make Chicago its own country? Are we going to forcibly relocate people across one border or another?
Who gets the nukes?
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#125If there is a conflict it will be short lived, but violent. There’s too much money, inteligencr, and infrastructure for a civil war to truly take shape.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#126more than half of americans are unfit for a bar fight let alone a war. I hate to say it but these kinds of surveys are pretty weak. I recall a friend who's a history buff telling me something along the lines of non-professional soldiers often refuse to shoot their firearms, or intentionally miss, because people often don't truly want to kill. A quick google suggests some credibility to this claim[1]. I always try to…
A civil war isn't always a war by civilians.
Consider a scenario where the government is increasingly turned into a mexican standoff between completely entrenched branches of government. Supreme court is completely doing its own thing, the president starts abusing emergency powers to circumvent a ceaselessly filibustering congress and senate. Nothing gets done, and the country starts suffering from neglect and mismanagement.
It wouldn't be unheard of for a military coup to occur in such circumstances, in fact, it's a rough parallel to Julius Caesar's coup d'etat, which resulted in a civil war because some people didn't like the idea of having Caesar as a dictator and wanted to remain a republic, even if it was incredibly corrupt and dysfunctional.
Whether that is realistic today in the united states is another thing.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#127Not convinced at all that civil war is likely to happen. But then again, I probably would've said the same about Russia invading Ukraine at the start of the year. Part of me thinks this is the result of countless foreign adverserial brainworms slowly trying to push Americans over the edge. Do you have plans if civil war were to break out? The dark part of me thinks it would be interesting to see how a modern civil wa…
> Part of me thinks this is the result of countless foreign adverserial brainworms [...]
> which is unlikely to meaningfully affect the ultrarich and powerful.
Or perhaps non-foreign ultra-rich and powerful whom see creating divisiveness as a sure means to retain their status. I am not so quick, personally, to point the finger at those outside the US and see far more obvious evidence of it being perpetrated by domestic actors. Russia does not control what broadcasts on ABC each night, and they don't control what trends on Twitter.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#128Underneath of it all, American is facing a huge class divide. If a civil war erupts, it will be not because it’s right vs left or North vs south as it were before but most likely because there is a good chunk of the country who think there is a class of people who are banking on their back while at the same time being dismissive towards them and while they pay the price for the decisions they make. These people largely are evenly distributed across both right and left, so that clearly indicates why this is a different equivalence than say the last civil war we had where Democrats were for slavery for example.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
A deeply religious conservative America, or a secular progressive America. Groups are not seeing eye to eye on the fundamental role of government, and lines in the sand are being drawn.
I could see Christian Nationalists making waves, but those are 1% of society? Secular Progressives are non violent by creed(small joke), so I just don't see that happening. Poor vs rich? I see poor on all sides of the issue, hard to see that happening.
I second this.
Progressives wouldn't fight. Some small radical groups people would, but they aren't large enough or organised enough, who/what can they do other than spot violence/terrorism?
I don't think the US can have a proper "civil war" there are too many disparate groups.
But then again, Germany was very divided before WW2, so maybe one of these charismatic cult leaders could to come along.
Re: Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon
#130The great majority of that 50 percent belong to one political party, that is fond of carrying around gallows, encouraging people to be locked up after being chained, etc. They're willing things to happen, as Q predications let them down.
I have thought about this and the whole right to bear arms that seems to be rampant in those circles (I live in a more rural community and work in Ag Automation).
On a careful reading of the lengthy 2nd amendment ("A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."), I realized that ownership or property is not actually enumerated here. But when I visit with my peers, what is emphasized is gun ownership. "My" guns, is the important piece that is shared with me. The ability to exchange wealth/property for a mechanism that can assert violence helps gun owners file safe, strong, secure, even if it comes at some risk to self. The gamble seems to be that they're more willing to pay this price for this comfort.
So the thought experiment I walk them through goes something like this: "You know, you're right! Guns are good! This 2nd amendment thing is awesome. Power to the people, ya know? I think everyone should have a gun" (and this is where the expression starts to shift from glee to suspicion) "I support funding that provides everyone with guns. Everyone gets a machine gun. And a days worth of ammo. The Canadians will definitely think twice before invading then." At this point, there's a look of horror on their face as they begin to ponder a world where the threat of violence is equalized throughout the entire country. There's a weak laugh as the satire I'm pushing dons on them.
Suggest that everyone own a current and power weapon, and you'll see the suggested legislations to limit who participates start flying.
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