What Form Would It Take?

A poll from Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service has found something rather disturbing: 2/3s of Americans think that a civil war is imminent in the United States:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A majority of Americans believe political, racial, and class divisions are getting worse, according to the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service Battleground Civility Poll, the second component of the Battleground Poll. This includes three-quarters or more of men and women; urban, suburban, and rural voters; approximately 7-in-10 or more voters in every age cohort; white, black, and Latinx voters; and nearly two-thirds of voters of all partisan stripes.

These observations contribute to the Civility Poll’s additional finding that the average voter believes the U.S. is two-thirds of the way to the edge of a civil war. On a 0-100 scale with 100 being “edge of a civil war,” the mean response is 67.23.

Consistent with the Civility Poll’s findings in April, this installment of the poll reveals significant contradictions within the electorate. Voters broadly agree with the premise that our political culture has become too uncivil and lacks a focus on solutions, and that common ground and compromise should be the goal for political leaders—while at the same time, equal numbers want leaders to “stand up to the other side” and stand up to “powerful special interests.”

or, in other words, people are actually fomenting the discord that they decry.

I’ve heard people scoff at the idea. Their arguments tend to run along the lines of what are a bunch of old white hicks spread across the country going to do?

I think this story, reported by Chicago’s WGN, might provide a hint:

CHICAGO — Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 board of directors has given police superintendent Eddie Johnson a vote of “no confidence.”

An FOP spokesperson said Johnson’s decision to skip President Donald Trump’s speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police this coming Monday in Chicago was “the last straw.”

Imagine that when called to quell a violent rally, rather than arresting those participating in the rally, the police arrest the city’s officials. Imagine that when the National Guard is called in, the National Guard sides with the people against the officials. That’s how it could happen.

We have a situation no unlike that in the UK. Our leaders are in revolt against the people. I don’t know what will ultimately happen but the ratcheting up of tensions cannot persist forever.