We are in a Civil Cold War.

[uncommon]

There is no doubt in my mind that we are experiencing a civil cold war. We have two "sides" of society that cannot agree on what America should be, never mind how to get there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Been saying this for a few years now

and usually, this is the problem, cold wars are followed by a hot phase.

[uncommon]

2. Things can only get so bad before people take to the streets -- let's hope it

never comes to that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Problem is that people will not take to the streets

But threats like Angle's that if the elections don't go their way they will have to resort to Second Amendment Remedies should be taken VERY SERIOUSLY.

People taking to the streets in peaceful demonstrations might be a way to stop this... or quite frankly a national strike. I am not going to hold my breath on either.

[TBF]

18. Or the wrong ones will take to the street ...

the danger right now is that we're not going to get the peaceful protests/strikes that we would like. We'll get Sarah Palin Oakley and Glen Beck Rogers leading a revolt ...

[yella_dawg]

3. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

And we've become a society obsessed with building fences. It's not a matter of two sides, but uncountably many sides in the residue of a shattered culture.

Our lives are now driven by propaganda rather than ideas. Hopefully the coming darkness will be short, and the survivors will have learned something.

[blondeatlast]

5. I think you may be right--complete with propaganda, fear as a tool,

and scapegoating.

[kctim]

6. It is the path every nation must take

when its populace starts using government to force personal beliefs onto everybody else.

[Ozymanithrax]

7. I'd say more of a cold civil war. n/t

[blondeatlast]

8. A delicate difference, but a bit more accurate. nt

[uncommon]

9. It's civil, it's cold...

:shrug:

[blondeatlast]

10. Both are alarmingly accurate. nt

[Larry Ogg]

11. Actually there are three sides in class warfare...

You forgot to mention the Elite predator class who profit from fanning the flames of divide and conquer - what we the sheepeople call civil war - so when we the peon class halve nothing left but sticks and stones to beat each other down with, the predators will be safe and secure in their gated communities and mansions eating pickled idiots..., and with a little mustard too.

[rurallib]

13. The war profiteers. They care not who wins, but how they can profit.

[leveymg]

16. Four sides - there is also the global vulture capital class that move in after crises

and pick the carcass clean of all remaining assets of any real value. Look at what happened when the "Chicago School Boys" swooped in and took over the economy, all but eliminating the public sector (except national security), after Pinochet took control during the real Chilean civil war. That's the new model for political crises.

Crisis opportunity can be created strategically, rather than after the fact, as Naomi Klein reminds us. Globally managed crisis - now it is our turn.

[Uncle Joe]

17. But of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmannAYiwh0

[uncommon]

22. There are always elites benefiting - even on the "good" side -

so I don't think this generates distinct "sides" so much as hierarchies within the sides.

[Larry Ogg]

27. The premise was...

"The elite predator class who profits from fanning the flames of divide and conquer." Of course not all elites are amongst the predator class nor do they personally fan the flames of divide and conquer, even though they may indirectly benefit from those who do or the system they created.

How many Americans benefit from going to Wall Mart for a good deal on a product made by child labor or slave wages, that replaced American jobs. How many consider the amount of blood that was spilled, or the environment that was destroyed for a tank of gas, this doesn't make them predators even though they benefit indirectly... But when predators are involved in politics and the economy, something happens to society... moral standards are reduced, behavior that was intolerable becomes acceptable, laws are adjusted or repealed to legitimize the new norm as society begins to slowly regress, some people can't see the changes, some accept the changes, others resist, life gets better for some and worse for more, they begin to divide and blame each other, most will know that something is wrong, but if they don't know about the psychology and science of conscience the predators will remain undiscovered and maybe idealized, and fingers will rarely be pointed at the culprits who hide their malevolence behind a facade benevolence.

[DCBob]

12. Which is precisely why our President is trying so hard to bring this country together.

Because we certainly cannot let it get hot.

[Fumesucker]

19. The best way to unite a diverse people is to give them a common enemy..

Hippies seem to work as an all purpose enemy for most Americans, I suggest that Obama engage in a lot of Hippie punching..

Oh.. wait, he already does..

(note that "Hippie" is a handy all purpose code word for anyone to the left of center right)

[DCBob]

24. The common enemy is devisiveness.

Its hurts everyone.

[Fumesucker]

25. I disagree..

It doesn't hurt those who hold power..

And they are the only ones who count in our system.

[DCBob]

26. It will eventually hurt those in power too if the country becomes dysfunctional..

due to severe polarization.. I think we are near that now.

[Fumesucker]

30. The leaders seem to be egging on the polarization..

Look at how polarized DU is becoming, it seems to get worse by the day sometimes.

[Hissyspit]

35. No, it's not. nt

[Ter]

31. Dupe

n/t

[Ter]

32. States can secede without it getting hot

Let them go, it would be best for everyone.

[rurallib]

14. In so many ways this is an extension of the original civil war.

Race a major factor. Fighting done by the poor and ignorant for the rich.
It has carried on down in the form of union busting, anti-war protests and on down to today with almost no let up.
Essentially it is the rich dividing the masses to keep them at bay.

[uncommon]

23. Agreed - this is very much like the original, which should really be scaring

the crap out of the American people.

[krabigirl]

15. I actually think we could agree more than disagree, but tptb want us divided about useless stuff.

[deaniac21]

20. Doesn't seem to be very civil, at all.

[L0oniX]

21. If only we could all join together on this one thing ...the rich are our enemies.

[Dr Morbius]

28. I'm sorry, I believe you are mistaken.

It isn't that the two camps cannot agree, it is rather that the two camps are industriously kept at each others' collective throats. We probably could agree if we were allowed to do so, but if the people are kept divided, the power of the people is greatly diminished.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to the effect that when the people fear government, that's tyranny. When government fears the people, that's liberty. What we have today is government afraid of the special interests and the people afraid of each other. Think this isn't by design? Think again.

[unkachuck]

29. K&R....n/t

[XemaSab]

33. I have made a study of the right wing

and I think there is a lot of common ground, but there are many basic idealogical differences. Exhibit A being the role of Christianity in American society.

[byronius]

34. I feel like that -- but then, I hear Randi Rhodes talk another one down.

Once a week, every week, a Teabagger gets converted. Too slow, but good for the nation. Think of them as victims of bad information and culture.

They're sick. I think most of them don't even know why they feel so lost and confused and frightened. A lot of them are dominated by a single figure, someone in it only for the money, a boss or a neighbor, or the rich grandfather --

I wish we could wake them up before they kill everything green and good.

On edit -- Robert Crumb had a cartoon once about a race of giant white ants that were attacking smaller dark ants -- and each time the dark ants pulled down a white one, its shell would crack -- and a dark ant would emerge, shaking its head and saying 'thank you'.

[Iterate]

36. So who is the enemy?

No doubt about a cold CWII here as well, but if you fight the wrong army for the wrong reasons it's bound to not go well.

If baggers are the enemy, then playing whack-a-mole is bound to fail. If bigotry and ignorance are the enemies, then teaching science and history, ending DADT, and enforcing the 14th Amendment should make quite a difference.

If the enemy is merely the rich, then a tax and equitable pay should do the job.

But if the real enemy is the over-sized international corporation, then real fight is for sovereignty, and the other causes can fall into line.

ed. for being too quick on the click.

[Hannah Bell]

37. no, we're in the middle of a psyops operation & an assault on living standards.

the "sides" are manufactured to divert from & produce scapegoats for the assault on living standards.

shock doctrine v. 9.0