That's why it's always Feds in these situations.
No local connections, no sympathy.
And there are people on both sides in the military.
Imagine a civil war in which military left/right sectarians are pinpoint striking Patriots/Antifa.
In this community, we all like to think that the military will stand with genuine Americans, but I know for a fact that we have far-leftists in the US Army. Imagine 10% of the US Army going guerrilla across the US.
I don't remember where I was going with this. WA quarantine has me a few drinks deep on a Tuesday. I guess, if anything, I'm just trying to make sure people are aware of how easy it is to see a prolonged civil conflict in the US.
We can't keep comforting ourselves with, "Who would actually shoot another American? No one!"
We know it's not true. Think of the animosity between people of different states. Fuck Californians. (Fuck Texans for libs.) We're all guilty of it, even if you try to semantically hand-wave it as, "We don't hate the people, we hate the state!" We know the people made the state what it is.
This is why the federal government was supposed to be limited, and the individual states much more empowered. We are a huge country, and there are naturally going to be many different cultures over such a large geographic expanse, so when the federal government becomes overgrown, disagreements on what it should do can become deeply divisive. The federal government was created to protect experiments in democracy from outside threats.
You and I may find California/New York disgusting as deeply as the libs are disgusted by all of America except 2/3 coasts, but we all have the right to exist as we do on this continent. At least, that's what the Founders intended.
The problem is that the federal government has grown into a monster far beyond its intended design. The federal government is only Constitutionally empowered to run the Post Office, handle all foreign dealings and defense, and arbitrate between the states. Somehow, these constitutional powers have expanded and mutated beyond recognition, and it has made for a clash of cultures in how to handle our continent.
There is no agreement to be had. We are not talking to people who share our culture. A Seattle hipster techie fem-boy is not, in any way, culturally similar to a Harlen coal miner. The only way to create peace between such cultures is to not have any power over them. The system manifested in the Constitution makes such a peace possible, but it only works when people are ok with coexisting with those who are different.
I would like to think we could go back to the original constitutional framework, and peacefully defuse the animosity in our nation without bloodshed, but frankly, the culture of leftists seems to prohibit the existence of different peoples (at least if those differences are anything more than skin deep). I doubt they would permit the freedom of the states to be truly different.
I think it's really the only chance for peaceful resolution.
I fear that it won't even be attempted before the Rubicon is corssed.
/enddrunkrant
*30 second edit: I guess I remembered where I was going with it.
I'm not an alcoholic. I drink gin 'n' tonic to fight the Wu Flu.
That's why it's always Feds in these situations.
No local connections, no sympathy.
And there are people on both sides in the military.
Imagine a civil war in which military left/right sectarians are pinpoint striking Patriots/Antifa.
In this community, we all like to think that the military will stand with genuine Americans, but I know for a fact that we have far-leftists in the US Army. Imagine 10% of the US Army going guerrilla across the US.
I don't remember where I was going with this. WA quarantine has me a few drinks deep on a Tuesday. I guess, if anything, I'm just trying to make sure people are aware of how easy it is to see a prolonged civil conflict in the US.
We can't keep comforting ourselves with, "Who would actually shoot another American? No one!"
We know it's not true. Think of the animosity between people of different states. Fuck Californians. (Fuck Texans for libs.) We're all guilty of it, even if you try to semantically hand-wave it as, "We don't hate the people, we hate the state!" We know the people made the state what it is.
This is why the federal government was supposed to be limited, and the individual states much more empowered. We are a huge country, and there are naturally going to be many different cultures over such a large geographic expanse, so when the federal government becomes overgrown, disagreements on what it should do can become deeply divisive. The federal government was created to protect experiments in democracy from outside threats.
You and I may find California/New York disgusting as deeply as the libs are disgusted by all of America except 2/3 coasts, but we all have the right to exist as we do on this continent. At least, that's what the Founders intended.
The problem is that the federal government has grown into a monster far beyond its intended design. The federal government is only Constitutionally empowered to run the Post Office, handle all foreign dealings and defense, and arbitrate between the states. Somehow, these constitutional powers have expanded and mutated beyond recognition, and it has made for a clash of cultures in how to handle our continent.
There is no agreement to be had. We are not talking to people who share our culture. A Seattle hipster techie fem-boy is not, in any way, culturally similar to a Harlen coal miner. The only way to create peace between such cultures is to not have any power over them. The system manifested in the Constitution makes such a peace possible, but it only works when people are ok with coexisting with those who are different.
I would like to think we could go back to the original constitutional framework, and peacefully defuse the animosity in our nation without bloodshed, but frankly, the culture of leftists seems to prohibit the existence of different peoples (at least if those differences are anything more than skin deep). I doubt they would permit the freedom of the states to be truly different.
I think it's really the only chance for peaceful resolution.
I fear that it won't even be attempted before the Rubicon is corssed.
/enddrunkrant
30 second edit: I guess I remembered where I was going with it.
I'm not an alcoholic. I drink gin 'n' tonic to fight the Wu Flu.