We're in a Cold Civil War.

[byronius]

I've seen analogies to 1930's Germany; I think they're not as relevant as the American Civil War and the Cold War.

Families and friends that have grown uncomfortable over a number of issues now grow to complete division over a single, simple, sticking point. This is fact versus fiction, community versus solipsism, love versus fear, spirituality versus dogmatic faith. Corporations and moneyed interests nervously wait to bet on the winner. It hasn't started, but everyone expects it to start. Cold. But civil war this is nonetheless.

These are people that embrace dominance and aggression as an implied absolute good; for these people community is a mask one wears, much as evangelical Christianity extols the virtues of Jesus while dabbling in the Prosperity Gospel, and they have drawn an untenable line in the sand. All over the country there are neighbors and business associates and co-workers eyeing each other, unable to speak of this issue any longer without voices raising and tempers flaring. No one wants to burn the bridges, no one truly wants to set it off on the local level -- Fox versus MSNBC is a very different thing than 104 Sycamore versus 105 Sycamore, or husband versus wife. It's safe on the internet, but most want to avoid personal confrontation.

It's been simmering for a year and now it's heating up. This one's not about human beings being bought and sold, this is about half the victims of an enemy sneak attack being unwilling to believe it. Conservatives have been placed in the unenviable position of denying all the evidence of their senses and seventeen intelligence agencies. Their foreign-owned media outlets blare absolute propaganda, words are starting to seethe with violent subtext, the world watches and power shifts like thermohaline circulation --

The Democratic and Republican contingents of the Scranton Rotary Club have always maintained a civil decorum, continuing to consume each other's casseroles and buy each other's goods and services. Lifelong friends, extended families, social groupings -- all bonds that are beginning to strain over this single sticking point.

If they prevail (and they cannot), it is the end of the United States. Democracy as practiced by Devin Nunes and Paul Ryan and Donald Trump is no democracy at all, but brute primal strong-man three-million-year-old tribalism that will collapse as it always does. If they do not prevail, conservative thought and the Republican Party will carry the stench of treason for generations. This. Is. Civil. Division.

So far, Cold. But Civil War, nonetheless.

Coming to a neighborhood near you.

[Roy Rolling]

1. Evil People

I read once that the Civil War broke out when the north and south abandoned the issues and began thinking of the other side as evil people, against the will of God.

Calling the other side "allied against God or the universe" impersonalized them enough to kill fellow Americans.

[StevieM]

13. Many Republicans across America openly portrayed the last election as a battle

between Hillary Clinton and Jesus Christ.

It is frightening that we live in a country where so many people think that way.

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R

[BigmanPigman]

3. Scranton...as in The Poconos in Pa?

That area normally swings more red than even purple if I recall from living in PA. A friend from college (art school) grew up there and I found out about a month ago that she is a tiki torch carrying Neo Nazi who I have officially unfriended.

[dhol82]

8. I have a friend in Scranton who is a true blue democrat

I’m sure she is not the only one.
There might be hope yet.

[Initech]

4. We used to be a lot more civil to each other before Rush and Fox came along.

Fuck that shit.

[rainy]

9. They teach hate for profit and power!

[lapfog_1]

5. There are many parallels with both Watergate

and with Hitler and Germany...

One that I keep thinking about is Bannon and Ernst Rohm.

And we are just past ( in this analogy ) the last days of June 1934.

[oxbow]

6. Strong feelings on the right and left...

There are nearly as many people who just don’t pay attention and don’t vote though. They are the ones that can be awakened and activated in this cycle of inanity. They must be shown that they can change all of this.

The fact that a Koch gets an extra $28 million a week under the new tax plan, while a teacher gets an extra $1.50 a week is shameful no matter what party you identify as. Education and awareness will win the day, despite the active misinformation state that a certain section of the right abides in.

[pazzyanne]

7. Frightening

and it becomes more frightening each day. I have become obsessed with researching news and events. The most frightening is that there does not appear to be anything that I can do that will change this, and yes, I do contact my congress people, I do donate to agencies that are fighting against the "evil" that permeates our political arena. It is just that it feels like it is a losing battle. I am not a quitter, but hope is fading.

[90-percent]

10. persevere

NEVER STOP RESISTING. we are in germany 1934. decide where you stand; tyranny or the pursuit of happiness?

DEMOCRACY OR FASCISM? All we got is numbers. 60% of "us" in spite of the perversely tilted playing field. theres enough responsible journalism left in the world for people to become informed. i engage righties all the time in my life and i dont argue. i listen and try to find common ground, which i usually refer to the dangerour distribution of wealth these days, a humiliating kick in the crotch o trickle down part three, the definition of insanity returns.

do what you can aand get bump[er stickers. let the tailgators get a dose of #RESIST!

-90% Jimmy

welcome to DU

[Lurks Often]

11. And conservatives feel the same way about liberals

and the only ones really profiting from this is the media both sides, the majority of whom have stopped being objective reporters and while putting profits first have taken sides.

The liberals hate Rush and Hannity, the conservatives hate Maddow and Reid. So yes, I agree that if we aren't in a Civil Cold War already, we're damn close.

[farmbo]

12. U.S.Grant: There are but two parties Now: Traitors and Patriots...