When you invoke the name "Civil War," people automatically assume that you're talking about a war between the states. That some state, or group of states, is going to secede from the union and that the Federal Government is going to have to fight them back into the Union. Why wouldn't people think that? That is, after all, what it was.
The problem is that to think of the looming Civil War that way, is to fundamentally misunderstand the issue that is facing us as American Citizens. What is likely to unfold today in our streets is not a trained army against a trained army following the rules of war and the Geneva Convention, but rather a no holds barred conflict between civilian militias, in urban civilian areas, in which innocent civilians are present, and in which many uninvolved parties will be injured or killed.
Sound like a good time? Well, as bad as it sounds, this is the inevitability towards which the extremists on both sides are moving.
I get it, no one wants to hear that they're the cause of it, but those calling for war are. Those who say a fight in inevitable so let's just get it over with. The sooner the better. Maybe then things can get back to normal.
No, it won't. Once bullets fly, nothing goes back to normal. It's an irreparable rupture that takes generations to overcome. Yet instead of feeling like everyone is doing everything in their power to avoid it, it seems like those in the middle are cowed into silence while watching the extremists on their side rush headlong into armed conflict. It's a travesty, and it's one that those of us who sit silently are just as much a part of as those who are running to it with open arms.
I've been to war. I've seen it. I've lost friends. I've processed reports. I've heard the stories. I've watched the videos. I've lived it, and I can tell you, you don't want a war, no matter how much you might think you do.
The thought is that a war will settle things. That we'll come out of it better than we were before it started. Yet in the world of asymmetrical warfare, nothing could be further from the truth. Once bullets fly, it doesn't matter who wins, there will be an armed guerrilla force looking to resurrect their cause through terrorism and hit and run tactics. This is the lesson of modern warfare. It doesn't settle things, it only takes it underground.
You see, in today's asymmetrical environment, the only way to win a war is to convince those that you are fighting that they're wrong and need to stop fighting. Yep, that's right, hearts and minds. You don't win by making martyrs, not in today's environment, and we don't want that kind of reality in our country. We just don't.
I'm pleading with both sides to regain their composure. We don't need Revolution 2.0 or Civil War 2.0, because it won't be what you think it will be, it will be both sides against both each other and the Federal Government. It will be a bloodbath, and it will solve nothing. All that death, dismemberment, and tragedy for nothing. That's right, that's the only thing that'll come out of it. Nothing.
Quiet the drums of war. Still the bugle calling the troops to muster. There is still time to stave off disaster, but only if the silent majority refuses to stay silent any longer.
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