And a very uncivil war.
What seems most obvious is that a civil war, like any war, requires two sides pitted against one another in outright combat or in destructive ideological engagements. And given the mass capitulation of mayors, governors, police chiefs, media editors, entertainment celebrities, CEOs and members of Congress to the insurrectionary cadres holding the nation hostage — forces of disarray like Antifa, Black Lives Matter, raging Twitter mobs, hate-promoting institutions like the SPLC, the ACLU, The Nation of Islam and others — one is hard pressed to locate and identify a respectable “other side” of the struggle.
Admittedly, there is a beleaguered though resolute president (abandoned by many who should logically be his allies, including members of his own party), a small number of conservative commentators who have stood their ground in the public square, and an inchoate “silent majority” (assuming it is indeed a majority), but they scarcely comprise a visible and identifiable “other side” equal in approximate strength to an active, vociferous and bellicose hostile power. That being the case, we cannot say that a de facto civil war is in progress. The side of law and order seems to have surrendered without much in the way of robust and concerted resistance.
We can say that the nation has grown dysfunctional and largely ungovernable — civil disintegration, not civil war — and will remain so unless those who believe in the Constitution and re-possess sufficient authority in the military and government agencies, backed by a genuine silent majority emerging at election time, can mount a viable defense against the agents of destruction. This does not mean that the left will be defeated or lay down its arms, only that the playing field — or battlefield — will have been made rather more level.
At that point, once a balance of forces is achieved and a meaningful engagement of opposing sides becomes possible, we may have entered a condition of veritable civil war, whether institutional or manifest, unless a resolution or armistice can be worked out. And the only resolution that might make some initial sense is an official divorce between the warring segments of the nation, a secession of states from the federal system, red and blue states going their own ways. Such would inevitably involve manifold complications, with citizens of differing political loyalties abiding in the same state, the division of economic and industrial property, the re-assignment of components of the military, the complexities of foreign relations, and so on.
People keep blathering hopefully about this “secession” business, as if it was anyplace near the realm of actual possibility. I’m kinda surprised to see the usually sober Solway doing it though, and apparently taking it seriously—even going so far as to suggest such a thing might be done peacefully.
Sorry to rain on the fantasist parade, everyone, but it’s a delusion, an entirely absurd proposition. Or does anybody really want to argue that the federal government of the US of A might entertain the notion of dissolving itself to allow states, regions, or whatever other imaginary subdivision go their separate ways without a tremendous, inconceivably bloody struggle?
Do I really need to point out how that worked out the first time around?
It’s a fever dream, the aimless woolgathering of a madman. Which is not to say that the nation won’t end up riven asunder, mind. In fact, any realistic assessment of the unbridgeable chasm between Normals and the agressively batshit-insane Left would almost have to conclude that some kind of division is well-nigh inevitable. But it ain’t gonna be peaceful, and it ain’t gonna be bloodless. It’s gonna be brutal, nightmarish, and destructive, with no guarantee of ending well for any of us.
- Entries
Yep. Tyrants do not willingly give up power, and parasites do not willingly give up a host that still has any blood left to suck. Just the fact that the DC beltway and suburbs have become the wealthiest region of the country is enough to know the fedgov will never willingly let the subject provinces go without a bloody struggle.
I’d be fine with the urban areas of the US seceding. Put up walls around Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago, and so on. Sell them water and electricity if they can pay for it.
And the moment they’re one minute late in payment, cut them off.
Which will happen on the first payment.
And execute any who try to escape!!!
No.
It only takes one party to do violence, and only one party to make war.
Bide.
The way things are going, there will come a time when the federal government of the US of A won’t have the wherewithall nor the money, power, and ability to wage a tremendous, inconceivably bloody struggle.
And then it won’t be “succession” so much as it will be, “things fall apart, the center cannot hold.”
Just won’t be one rough beast slouching to be born. It will be a multitude of them.
May take awhile for it to get to that point, but I’m convinced more than ever that that day is coming.
We better watch foreign actors too. Chaos and vacuums beg to find someone to tame the chaos, instill order or fill the vacuums.
When the system works for them, the Leftists use it. So some Judge pops up to deny an EO, another pops up to say Trump can’t unpen and unphone 0bambam’s EO, and another pops up to say the Flynn Trial must continue even though no prosecutor will actively pursue the case anymore and drops it. I bet you the Flynn prosecution it will actually require that this Judge be held in contempt and then Impeached and removed from Office before the gag orders on Flynn are lifted with the dismissal of the case. That might take 6 months or more though. Enough to get past the Election.
However, when the System is not with them, the Left is just as willing to ignore the Laws and take what they want through violence. So, BLM and Riots and Antifa and Statue removals all against the actual laws, rules and regulations say that a procedure must be followed and/or a vote taken.
Meanwhile, despite no ongoing Emergency, 42 out of our 50 States plus DC are clinging to the idea that they have Emergency Powers which can allow them to label anything essential or non-essential and compel people to shut down or continue operating as they see fit. All the while paying Danegeld to a lot of people using YOUR tax dollars. Which means for many taxpayers, they may get a $1200 payment and end up on the hook for $10,000.
The main struggle Trump can continue to do is to overturn these Crazy Courts and get real people who are sane in there.
For the rest of us, it is time to go FU to their rules and open.
Bars and Restaurants here should get together and agree to open en masse. Arrest them all is an option? We shall see.
The big companies, Wal Mart, Lowes, etc, the grocery stores, they all love this as their business is through the roof, their prices are up, and their competitors are going out of business.
Speaking of stores: My housemate got done with oral surgery yesterday, and we made a combination pharmacy/grocery run to Pruett’s today. (Pruett’s: local grocery small chain, for those who missed some of my other comments on the markets out here.)
It can’t have escaped anyone that I’ve been a bit, err… paranoid about supply chain disruptions in the wake of the shutdowns. Yeah, paranoid’s a good word. 🙂
Fully stocked. Meat counter, butcher’s, seafood market, deli, veggies, canned goods, bottled water, cereals, fruits, paper goods – including TP and paper towels, cleaning supplies, the works.
The only gaps in the shelves were minor ones due to the fact that we caught them before the bread truck came in.
I’ve noticed the same thing over the course of several other grocery runs there over the past month and a half.
Now, I know that a month’s worth of shopping does not a trend make, but I thought that was interesting.
And relieving: we might just make it through this without having food and supply shortages this winter. *pshew*
Yep, that’s the way it is around here. Every store now full stocked with no shortage.
I think it’s as much a result of people stopping the panic buying as anything else.
All of a sudden in Harris Teeter, Toilet Paper!!!!
Well the talk about Lockdowns returning for Surge Protection has the Stock Market in a tizzy. Hopefully they’re wrong and the store shelves are making the right call now.
Very good point, Ironbear. My grocery trip today was similar: plenty of product on the shelves for everything I was looking for, a few things definitely up in price (beef, most notably) but available.
I’m still seeing a number of outages, as recently as a few days ago: white flour unavailable except in bags or bundles of 25# or greater; baking yeast completely unavailable; canned soups and stews gone except some 10 oz cans; easy-prepare boxed meals almost gone. This was at Aldi, Hannaford (large regional chain), and Sam’s Club. Meats were mostly available but not piled as high as usual and with gaps in the coolers. The freezers and the produce aisle at Sam’s Club had many products not available and even with other stuff moved in there were still gaps. Sam’s Club also shifted to selling a lot of products in #10 cans rather than boxes of about eight single-serving cans.
The restaurant supply store I go to is well stocked. No outages noticed.
Prices are way up at all stores, between 30 and 100% up on almost all products except for the #10 cans at the restaurant supply store, which are up noticeably but probably less than 30%. Also, chicken leg quarters at the restaurant supply are still inexpensive, so long as you’re willing to buy a 40# box. (Which I did, and packaged them in nine, one-gallon freezer bags.) (And then apparently gave away four of them, presumably to friends of my wife or her mother. That was nice of me. I’m not worried about it. Even at effectively twice the price, it was still much cheaper than the consumer grocery stores charged.) Beef, though. Ugh. Even the cheap stuff is way up. Cheaper than in the grocery stores, but ugh. (That said, I bought about 20# of ground beef in a bulk package, packaged it in quart freezer bags at about 2# each, and then gave it away to people who are having trouble in the face of the current employment problems and the new prices. If I’m going to help people out I might as well do it cost-effectively.)
Seems odd that your area would still be that short. South Carolina also has fully stocked shelves. The price is higher. I don’t know what average percent it’s gone up, but it’s gone up.
And lumber. Looks like it’s gone up 30% or more. I have a spreadsheet for costs I put together in Jan of this year for several future projects so I know it’s not my imagination.
Our main shortage out here is King Arthur Flour.
Generic flour and other name brands? No problem. King Arthur? No dice, pal.
Not real sure what the deal is there.
I didn’t notice prices being much higher than normal over the past months on anything.
I’ve heard that the problem isn’t necessarily lack of products, but a shortage of adequate packaging for many products.
King Arthur is not a brand I recall seeing around here, so not missing it. The brands I normally see are all available. With the run on staple items, some raw materials may still be in short supply, especially ones that have growth lead times.