The Second American Civil War Is Already Happening: RR

[appalachiablue]

- The 2021 Capitol Riots were seen as a watershed moment in America politics and a prelude to a possible increase in violence, including the possibility of civil war. (Wiki).
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- 'The second American civil war is already happening. By Robert Reich, The Guardian, May 11, 2022. -Ed.

America will still be America. But it is fast becoming two versions of itself. The open question is: how will the two be civil toward each other? The US supreme court’s upcoming decision to reverse Roe v Wade (an early draft of which was leaked last week) doesn’t ban abortions; it leaves the issue to the states. As a result, it will put another large brick in the growing wall separating blue and red America.

The second American civil war is already occurring, but it is less of a war than a kind of benign separation analogous to unhappily married people who don’t want to go through the trauma of a formal divorce.

One America is largely urban, racially & ethnically diverse, and young. The other is largely rural or exurban, white & older. The split is accelerating. Red zip codes are getting redder & blue zip codes, bluer. Of the nation’s total 3,143 counties, the number of super landslide counties – where a presidential candidate won at least 80% of the vote – jumped from 6% in 2004 to 22% in 2020. Surveys show Americans find it increasingly important to live around people who share their political values. Animosity toward those in the opposing party is higher than at any time in living memory. 42% of registered voters believe Americans in the other party are “downright evil”. Almost 40% would be upset at the prospect of their child marrying someone from the opposite party.

Even before the 2020 election, when asked if violence would be justified if the other party won the election, 18.3% of Democrats and 13.8% of Republicans responded in the affirmative. Increasingly, each America is running under different laws. Red states are making it nearly impossible to get abortions but easier than ever to buy guns. They’re also suppressing votes. (In Florida & Texas, teams of “election police” have been created to crack down on the rare crime of voter fraud, another fallout from Trump’s big lie.)

They’re banning the teaching of America’s history of racism. They’re requiring transgender students to use bathrooms & join sports teams that reflect their gender at birth. They’re making it harder to protest; more difficult to qualify for unemployment benefits or other forms of public assistance; & almost impossible to form labor unions. And they’re passing “bounty” laws – enforced not by governments, which can be sued in federal court, but by rewards to private citizens for filing lawsuits – on issues ranging from classroom speech to abortions to vaccinations. Blue states are moving in the opposite direction. Several, including Colorado & Vermont, are codifying a right to abortion. Some are helping cover abortion expenses for out-of-staters...
- More, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/11/second-american-civil-war-robert-reich
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- (Wiki) The "Second American Civil War" is an umbrella term used by some academics to reclassify historical eras of significant political violence in the United States as a "civil war," or more commonly to discuss the potential outbreak of a future civil war. The phrase "second civil war" has been used in political discourse, usually as a non-serious threat if certain actions are taken by the opposing political party (e.g. the removal of a sitting president; massive changes in federal laws perceived as unconstitutional). Occasionally, references to a 2nd civil war by political leaders & commentators are more serious in nature. Discussion of a 2nd civil war has occurred with varying degrees of frequency & sincerity since the first civil war ended in 1865. In 2016, discussion of a possible second civil war entered the mainstream in earnest as a result of the polarizing effect of the election of Donald Trump...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_American_Civil_War

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I'm not going to lie to myself or anyone else

I believe members of the GOP are downright evil.

[Irish_Dem]

2. I have been saying this for the past couple of years.

We are in the middle of a civil war.

Putin and the GOP have been fighting for a divided America and permanent power.

[luv2fly]

3. 18.3 percent of Democrats think violence would be justified if R's win the election?

That strikes me as astonishingly high, especially as compared to only 13.8 percent of R's. Methinks something is amiss.

[appalachiablue]

4. I saw this too, must be an error

[OldBaldy1701E]

5. Or, an attempt to try and drag down Democrats as 'just like the other side'. (n/t)