![It may seem unthinkable, but given the battle between states' and federal rights over guns and abortion, a second civil war is a possibility.](https://san.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/image-159.jpg?w=1280)
Commentary
-
Our commentary partners will help you reach your own conclusions on complex topics.
Like many of you, I’ll never forget Election Night 2016. I put my children to bed, whispering to my two-year-old daughter “When you wake up, you’ll discover that a woman can be anything” and settled with my cocktail for a joyful evening…and ended up several hours later crying in the bathtub. I remember calling my parents the next day and saying to them something along the lines of “We are going to have the second Civil War,” and them saying something to the effect of “Slow your roll.” We were all upset, but we still believed that the guardrails of democracy would hold. And that saying anything else was merely histrionics.
This whole “are we actually going to have a new Civil War” question, I’m not gonna lie, it does occasionally keep me up at night. And while I may have first said it more or less so someone would say “Oh come on, things aren’t that bad” – I can’t help but increasingly, terrifyingly, believe that it may come to pass.
In October 2020, Business Insider published a poll saying that the majority of Americans already believed we were in the midst of a “cold” Civil War.
Last fall, the University of Virginia Center for Politics released a poll finding that a majority of people who had voted to reelect Donald Trump in 2020 now wanted their state to secede from the Union, and also found that a whopping 41% of those who had voted for Joe Biden agreed with the statement that it might be time to “split the country.”
Now, to be clear, I don’t think we’re going back to the 1860s, with citizens grabbing their muskets and running out to defend their country, but the recent overturning of Roe V. Wade shows just how deeply the problem of states’ rights versus federal rights runs in this country.
We are already seeing states pass legislation with major implications within their own borders that differs wildly from that passed in neighboring states, and the toxic political atmosphere that has been stirred up in the past few years has only made that idea of extreme measure more palatable.
Oh, right. And as of right now, there are 393 million guns in civilian possession in the United States, and private militia groups are flourishing.
While the United States used to qualify as a “full democracy,” it is now considered a “partial democracy” along the lines of Somalia or Haiti.
That said, most of the entities calling for civil war are private entities with limited power, not public ones with the ability to compel citizens to do their will
The conflict is also less between states than within them – specifically, between metropolitan areas, which tend to go blue, and more rural populations, which are overwhelmingly red.
Government officials remain in a position to penalize citizens who engage for anti-democracy acts. This isn’t a fun topic but On the pro side, a second Civil War likely won’t look how we imagine. On the con side…a second Civil War likely won’t look how we imagine.
-
Americans must reject Trump to defend our democracy
At the end of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump accepted the nomination as the GOP candidate for president. In the first part of his acceptance speech, Trump called for unity and healing, although he derailed into partisanship as he continued. Critics have debated the media’s role in handling Trump’s speech. Some argued he was…
-
It’s time for Kamala Harris to pick up the torch
Debates have continued among Democrats about whether President Joe Biden is the best candidate for the 2024 election or whether an alternative Democratic leader might be more electable. While there’s no shortage of fellow Democratic leaders to choose from, President Biden and his supporters have continued to assert that Biden can and will win as…
-
Republicans want to sabotage US education
Former President Donald Trump’s official educational policy platform reveals plans to eliminate the Department of Education and seize the financial assets and endowments of elite U.S. universities. These proposals and others have convinced some liberal critics that the true goal of Republicans is to intentionally weaken U.S. education. Watch the above video as Straight Arrow…
-
Despite poor debate performance, Biden deserves our support
President Joe Biden himself admits that he delivered a “bad” performance in the first 2024 presidential debate. About a week after what some consider to be the worst debate performance in the history of televised debates, polls indicate that more voters than ever have an unfavorable opinion of the president, believe he is too old…
-
The modern-day Republican woman has terrifying role models
In a recent New York Magazine cover story entitled, “How Did Republican Women End Up Like This,” Rebecca Traister writes about some of the more polarizing examples of female Republican leaders and their positions on abortion, the transgender movement and women in general. With Republican women set to play a major role in the November…
Latest Opinions
-
U.S. Department of Defense
Congress still trying to figure out how to reduce wasteful military spending
-
DVIDS
US Navy, Air Force making waves with new weapons at RIMPAC
-
Getty Images
Israeli PM Netanyahu meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
-
Getty Images
Growing US nuclear power resurgence reaches the nation’s heartland
-
Getty Images
Beer from the sun, other solar thermal projects get government funding
Popular Opinions
-
In addition to the facts, we believe it’s vital to hear perspectives from all sides of the political spectrum.