(11-20-2020 03:43 PM)Morkai Wrote: The right has openly fantasized about civil war for well over a decade. They really started to get deep into their fantasies during the Obama years. Now that they've lost an election, they're discussing the indiscriminte murder of liberals, their fellow countrymen. Pretty frightening stuff.
The post above is indistinguishable from those on white supremacists boards monitored by the FBI. In fact, I wonder...
I'll take your word for it. Ive never seen a white supremacists board. Hell, Ive never seen a white supremacist. In a nation of 330 million, I'll bet there are maybe a few thousand of those idiots in total---most of which will hopefully grow out of that place of stupidity at some point. These people do not worry me, even though they probably hate me for no good reason. There just arent enough of them to worry about.
What I have seen is elected leaders of the United States advocating that US citizens be placed on some sort of official "enemies" list---with some going so far as to suggest mandatory "re-education" for anyone who disagrees with their extreme far left viewpoint. What I have seen is political speech being blocked in the marketplace of ideas---and elected leaders agreeing with it. What I have seen is some elected leaders openly suggesting that sacred Constitutional structures be altered to better suit an agenda---like elimination of second amendment guarantees, altering of the supreme court, limiting religious freedoms, providing government benefits based entirely on skin color, and the adding of states for purely political reasons.
These kinds of radical structural changes to the constitutional and societal structures scare me far more than any Trumps tweets---and they should scare anyone who actually understands that the Constitution isnt just a document---it is essentially the only shared basis for a societal compact we have left in America. If we all start making our own definition of the Constitution, rather than sharing a single definition---thats just one more step toward a division thats hard to fix once it becomes locked in.
Laugh if you like, but in the end--there has to be a commonality that ties together any nation if it is to stay whole and prosper. Thats especially true of a wildly diverse population that varies in race, religion, cultures, and economic backgrounds. For most countries--religion, race, culture or all three---create the national tie. In our country---we really dont have that anymore. Our primary tie is the belief in a document and the idea it represents.
Ive said it before and I'll say it again. Politicians and the media are playing with fire when they demonize the half of America they disagree with. We used to think the other side was simply mistaken---now we actually believe they are evil. That is a bell that's hard to unring and it creates an atmosphere that is unlikely to end well for any of us. Add to that the openly admitted wish by many Progressives to undermine the founding documents and protections that form the only remaining basis for our social compact-----and thats a recipe for unrest.