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Contrary to What You’ve Heard, America is Not on the Verge of Another Civil War
Not even close
My newsfeed has been flooded recently with stories predicting the inevitability of another Civil War in the United States; they are the newest disaster-porn clickbait, and I’m almost ashamed to say I invariably do click on them, which is probably why I get so many. I read them mainly in the hope of finding just one that actually makes sense, but thus far my hope has been in vain (you can read the latest failed example here).
I have no doubt that the increase in the number of these articles is due in part to this week’s one year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol. Things have certainly not improved over the past year, with acrimony between the various sides of the political spectrum at a high not seen since the years leading up to the Civil War in 1861. This does not mean, however, that a similar outcome is inevitable, for several reasons.
The Civil War fought between 1861 and 1865 was a conflict between two defined regions of the country over one issue: the continuation of slavery. For those who claim it was a states’ rights battle, this is only true insofar as the Southern states wanted the right to own slaves; read every state’s secession declaration for proof. Though we do have solidly blue and red states…
