As I worked from home the other day, I called my dad who told me he was contemplating turning on the TV. I was a bit surprised because he isn’t the kind of person to spend his day watching television. Intrigued, I turned on the TV to suddenly recoil in horror as I watched a mob, incited by the demagogue known as President Trump, ransack the Capitol building to protest his election loss from two months before.
It used to be, your candidate lost, you sulked but soon went back to life. However, apparently the new normal is to throw temper tantrums, disparage victors as illegitimate, or at worst participate in some casual insurrection. One ancient Roman wrote “deep are the wounds inflicted by internal strife.” Only after internal civil strife did the Roman Republic fall. Those words are truer today than ever before.
Civil strife and insurrection are nothing new in America. Shay’s Rebellion in 1786-1787 exposed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and gave rise to the Constitution, which for now, still governs our land. The order established by The Constitution faced its own most serious rebellion in the form of The War of Southern Secession and Aggression from 1861-1865.
The confederacy held that since The Union was freely entered into, so it could be freely exited out of. confederate leaders, unable to stomach the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, put a match to the kindling by firing on Fort Sumter in 1861. The resulting Civil War killed over 600,000 Americans on both sides and wrought destruction, especially in che confederacy as General Sherman famously made Georgia howl.
The war, although resulting in death and destruction, helped serve as a catalyst for the expansion of railroads, jump started the exponential growth of America’s industrial base, established it as a significant naval power and enhanced the power of The Federal Government. In today’s world, any new Civil War many on the right seem to eagerly welcome, would be nothing short of cataclysmic doom for America’s domestic prosperity and international standing.
No doubt there was a small fringe there just for the excitement and mayhem, but most seem to have been fervent Trumpist supporters intent on installing him as dictator for life. No, any new civil war and its peace, and that’s IF the war ever ended, would be tremendously devastating. Let’s take a look at a couple of historical cases.
The French Revolution of 1787 swept away the Ancien Regime, led to mob rule under Robespierre when too many heads suddenly found themselves detached from bodies. Eventually, Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor, a kind of benevolent Emperor all things considered. He saved the Revolution from continued terror under Robespierre and instituted needed reforms in France and abroad at the point of french bayonets. Ultimately, he was defeated after decades of war but the impact of the revolution was ingrained and France and influenced the rest of Europe. A key thing to remember was that the French Revolution did not see society turning on each-other and if anything the common bonds forged in the struggle helped cement the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity which govern France today.
When it was evident that The Confederacy was doomed in 1865, some Southerners approached General Lee, to sound him out about forming a guerilla insurgency to continue the war. Lee shot down the notion outright because he recognized that such an action would just prolong the misery of the nation and prevent national reconciliation. He also was against the erection of memorials and monuments to The Confederacy, correctly seeing they would become rallying points for malcontents. His prestige and authority meant his word was final. Sadly he died in 1870 within a couple decades confederate monuments and statues were erected, and the battle flag of the confederacy emblazoned on many southern states.
However, in today’s balkanized media market and the proliferation of paramilitary groups, there is seemingly no individual, other than the demagogue known as “President” Trump who can control these terrorists, insurrectionists, and militias but Lord knows he won’t do it. Societal trust and cohesion in America, never a strength to begin with, would collapse and likely never recover with a these damn militias, conspiracy theorists, and crazies going even crazier and probably turning on eachother. Already, many on the fringe right were turning on each other and saying the Capitol insurrectionists were antifa; despite all evidence to the contrary.
Any new “Civil War” would likely just be a replay of Beirut in the 1980’s or the Iraqi insurgency in the early 2000’s. A constant low level violence, bombings, shelling, and gunfire as different groups tusseled. As living with masks and the corona virus became the new normal, so would checkpoints and becoming familiar with which areas were safe and off limits.
In the 1990’s, there was a budding militia movement in America with events like Ruby Ridge and Waco arising as Government Agents collided with far right militia groups. The culmination of this distrust of Government was the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995. The devastation and innocent killed, in a major American city, helped undercut the sympathy for the paramilitaries and the far right. However, that was a long time ago and largely out of the American national consciousness.
Even in the 1990’s, America has never been so far down the path towards another Civil War as it is now. I can only hope that the treasonous behavior and shocking images of the Capitol Building by the “Law & Order” Party will shock sane American’s into coming back to their senses and realizing how fragile this democracy we have is.
Antifa and BLM are nowhere near the level as these insurrectionists. BLM is working for change within the system as witnessed in Georgia while ANTIFA by definition, only arises in opposition to fascism. These MAGA supporters are traitors and have shown that for the sake of power, they are willing to burn down everything they claim to love. The whole lot of them should be in jail for years and forever stripped of their right to vote as is befitting for the kindred spirits of Benedict Arnold.
I hope this serves as a wake up call to Americans who are lukewarm and those who were wavering in their support of Trump. If the Rubicon is crossed, or Pandora’s Box opened, there is no going back to the past and no guarantees for the future. We either unify or the most powerful country in the world falls victim to its own internal strife, becoming a ‘shithole’ nation in the process. I hope the fever trip is finally ending.
Current events through a historical lens 