Recent events have made me contemplate civil war. Only this time, it would be a real civil war, not a secession resulting in war between two separate countries, like the misnamed "Civil War" of the 1860s. This time, it really would be two factions in one country, fighting for control of one government.
I can't be on a side, since I know it's unethical to govern anyone. But if someone on either side were violating my life, liberty, or property, I have the right to fight back. I also have the right to defend others, and to join with them in mutual defense.
I've seen people saying that civil war is now inevitable. The divide is too deep and wide, and it's simply not possible to live in peace with people who want you dead.
I've also seen people saying a civil war is impossible because there's no clear geographical line to split things along; the sides are too intermingled. Of course, I think that assumption is encouraged by the misunderstanding that the 1860s war was a "civil war" when it wasn't. I don't think a clear geographical division is necessary.
I don't know who's right.
I don't think anyone smart or ethical ever wants a war. I certainly don't. It would unleash horrors I don't want to experience, and that I absolutely don't want my kids to experience. I am 100% opposed to the things a civil war would spawn. Besides murder, there would be martial law and other crimes.
But I also don't see how this could be worked out peacefully. You've got two statist factions, which each seem determined to control the other- and control all the population as well, according to their side's fetishes.
Maybe things will cool off soon, and we'll settle back into the American cold war we were living in before recent events heated things up. Not that this is much better. And, not that I believe it is limited to America.
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