{"id":315,"date":"2023-11-05T12:11:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T17:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/?p=315"},"modified":"2023-11-17T11:33:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T16:33:20","slug":"civil-war-has-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/2023\/11\/05\/civil-war-has-begun\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil War Has Begun"},"content":{"rendered":"

For only the second time in our nation\u2019s history, one of our political parties has decided to ignore the rules of democracy and go its own way.<\/p>\n

The first time was in the late 1750s when our forebears were writing the Constitution.\u00a0 Delegates disagreed on many issues, sometimes vehemently, but they stayed with it and found their way to compromise one painful issue at a time.<\/p>\n

But when they finally had to face the issue of slavery, both sides knew compromise was impossible.\u00a0 Either slavery was going to be part of our new nation or it was not.\u00a0 There was no way to compromise, no way to bridge the gap between the two sides, no way to transcend them.\u00a0 It eventually took a civil war to decide the question.\u00a0 Fortunately, the good guys won that war and slavery is outlawed. And there has never been such a strong split-off movement since.<\/p>\n

Until now.\u00a0 Now, 175 years later, we\u2019re at that point again.\u00a0 The issue is different this time but the opposing sides are about the same.\u00a0 The new Republican Party has decided it is done with democracy and wants to replace it with a fascist form of government headed by Donald Trump, and Democrats want to keep America a democratic republic headed by We the People.<\/p>\n

(By the way, I usually use the words fascist and neo-Nazi instead of any of its synonyms, such as autocrat,\u00a0 because fascist and neo-Nazi are the most accurate words to describe Trump\u2019s direction. He was a disciple of Hitler, head of Germany\u2019s Nazi Party, and that\u2019s whose advice he\u2019s openly and studiously following. See The Hitler-Trump Connections<\/em>, 10\/16\/23<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, the two sides, democracy and fascism, are incompatible, so once again we find ourselves in a situation where there is no way to compromise, no way to bridge the gap, and no way to transcend the differences.<\/p>\n

Does that mean we\u2019re in for a second civil war?<\/p>\n

I think it does.\u00a0 I think we\u2019re already in one. The shooting hasn\u2019t started, but the war started in 2020 as soon as the presidential election was decided, and probably some time before that.\u00a0 Violence is not guaranteed, but it may again be the end game.\u00a0 All the signs are there.<\/p>\n

Evidence:\u00a0 On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Rudy Giuliani, speaking to a cheering crowd, called for a \u201ctrial by combat\u201d to decide who should be elected president.\u00a0 Later that morning Trump told his followers they needed to \u201cfight like hell\u201d if they wanted to save their country.<\/p>\n

Also, Roger Stone, Trump\u2019s original and longtime political adviser, was caught on tape the day before the 2020 elections as saying he had no interest in waiting to tally the actual votes before contesting the election results.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck the voting,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s get right to the violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

More evidence:\u00a0 A recent NPR study revealed that four of every 10 Republicans believe that Democrats are so extreme that violence may be necessary to prevent them from taking over. They believe a government in Democrats\u2019 hands would destroy America.<\/p>\n

And they are led by Donald Trump, a violence-prone person who is not likely to walk placidly into a federal prison cell when he is convicted in open court of one of his many felons.\u00a0 He cares nothing about the courts.\u00a0 He\u2019s the king, and kings tell courts what to do. Courts do not tell kings.<\/p>\n

Trump is a violent person and he has a lot of violence-prone henchmen ready to go to war for him should he issue the call.\u00a0 He\u2019s already shown his contempt for the courts by flaunting a judge\u2019s gag order, and that defiance is bound to get worse as his convictions draw nearer \u2013 especially now that an appeals court has lifted for two weeks a judge\u2019s gag order on him, thus freeing him to spout as much hatred as he wants.<\/p>\n

It must be said here that the feelings of disdain run deep on both sides.\u00a0 A new study by the University of Virginia\u2019s Center of Politics shows that about 70 percent of voters who prefer either Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be the next president say electing officials of the other party would hurt the country.\u00a0 About half of those on each side said the other party represents a threat to the American way of life.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the Republicans by far who are calling for violence.\u00a0 MAGA Republicans in Congress even threaten violence against their own kind, their own congressional Republican siblings, who vote the wrong way on issues that are important to them.<\/p>\n

Republicans who voted against Trump-favorite Jim Jordan\u2019s candidacy for House speaker were bombarded with profanity-filled death threats from furious MAGA supporters.<\/p>\n

The wife of Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) started sleeping with a loaded gun under her pillow after receiving menacing calls and texts from MAGA Republicans.<\/p>\n

And on it goes.\u00a0 Remember what happened to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia\u2019s Republican secretary of state, when he refused to commit a felony that Donald Trump demanded of him.\u00a0 There are many, many cases.<\/p>\n

They especially go after Democrats they particularly dislike.\u00a0 They\u2019ve mercilessly bombarded Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis\u00a0with death threats and other viciousness because she handled criminal cases against Trump.<\/p>\n

So yes, although violence is not a foregone conclusion, the threat of it cannot be ignored. The signs today are the same as they were in early 1861.<\/p>\n

And if the MAGA Republicans see violence as their only way, as the South did in 1861, then bring it.\u00a0 It would be sad, but if that\u2019s what it takes to protect our democracy, bring it.\u00a0 America has plenty of law enforcement officials and National Guardsmen to handle it, and it would take us into the election with blood on the Republicans\u2019 hands. Voting places would be guarded as never before, we\u2019d have a fair and open election, and democracy would be restored.<\/p>\n

There are good reasons to believe things are looking up.\u00a0 Democrats\u2019 chances of taking over the House in next year\u2019s election are brightening every day.\u00a0 Lower courts are throwing out the draconian gerrymandering methods that Republican legislatures have employed to make some districts impossible for Democrats to win, and the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to agree with them — in most cases, anyway.<\/p>\n

The court is almost certain to toss out the congressional map drawn by Alabama\u2019s Republican legislature, and that would give Democrats an extra seat.<\/p>\n

Louisiana Democrats could gain another seat if the courts rule their way in a similar case.<\/p>\n

North Carolina\u2019s legislature recently finalized a map that would guarantee Republicans would win 10 and maybe 11 of the state\u2019s 14 congressional districts.\u00a0 Under the current map, the seats are split 7-7.\u00a0 Democrats are lining up to challenge that one.<\/p>\n

South Carolina also has a case before the court, but the outlook for that one is cloudy.<\/p>\n

So although we may be in the darkness right now, here comes the dawn.\u00a0 But we must use this time well to make sure it happens.\u00a0 We must awaken that large percentage of Americans who are still asleep to the impossible-to-overstate importance of the 2024 General Election.\u00a0 We must remind them, especially the nonvoters among them, of how valuable their vote must be because Republicans are pouring so much money and energy into preventing them from using it.<\/p>\n

We need to reach those people who Republicans are trying so hard to keep from voting, namely Black people but also other groups that might vote for Democrats, and help them overcome whatever obstacles lie in their way.<\/p>\n

Democratic Party headquarters always need volunteers. .<\/p>\n

If you are so inclined, look at\u00a0 ACLU\u2019s \u201cEvents Page\u201d and attend one of its workshops on how to be an effective advocate for civil liberties.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s crucial that we keep a clear eye on what\u2019s at stake here: nothing less than whether we\u2019re going to have a fascist government or a democratic republic.\u00a0 Whether decisions will be made by Donald Trump or We the People.<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries summed up a few days ago what Democrats will stand for in the House, but his words stand for the hearts of all democracy-loving Americans.\u00a0 I quoted these words last week, but I quote them again here for emphasis. House Democrats, he said, \u201cwill continue to protect Social Security, protect Medicare, protect Medicaid, protect our children, protect our climate, protect low-income families, protect working families, protect the middle class, protect organized labor, protect the LGBTQ community, protect our veterans, protect older Americans, protect the Affordable Care Act, protect the right to vote, protect\u00a0 the peaceful transfer of power, protect our democracy and protect a woman\u2019s freedom to make her own reproductive health care decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a dream worth fighting for.\u00a0 And the ever-growing odds are that if we do fight for it \u2013 meaning simply that if we vote and do what we can to get others to vote — we will win.<\/p>\n

Quoting Jefferies again: \u201cOur country has often confronted adversity and the good news is we always find a way to make it to the other side \u2026 we always overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heather Cox Richardson, historian and author, and popular blogger, would agree with that.\u00a0 Richardson writes in her latest book, Democracy Awakening,<\/em> that democracy will survive in America.\u00a0 She writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true history of American democracy is that it is never finished.\u00a0 Reclaiming our history of noble struggle reworks the polarizing language that has done us such a disservice while it undermines the ideology of authoritarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

This column has been edited from its original to correct a typographical error. \u00a0The original said our forebears wrote the Constitution in the 1800s.\u00a0 The Constitution was written in the 1700s. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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