"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln,
“there can be no successful appeal from the
ballot to the bullet; and those who take such
appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
-Robert F. Kennedy, April 5, 1968
While I direct this piece to the general audience, I ask that those tempted by the idea of civil war read what I have to say with great attention.
More and more each day we hear the deeply disturbing talk of a second American Civil War. It mostly emanates from an increasingly radicalized populist right. The source of such recklessness is not true American conservatism, one that adheres to Constitutional restraint but is instead, a non-Enlightenment philosophy that celebrates an acquiescence to strongman leadership. The popular understanding of conservatism has changed so much that if Barry Goldwater were alive today he too would be castigated as a RINO – a Republican in name only.
We have all heard the threats. Many of us have seen the Facebook posts that talk of armed insurrection with the accompanying threats of violence. There is ever-present Q-Anon talk of “the storm” when Democratic politicians and certain establishment Republicans will be tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Talk of such violence is now tossed around in disturbingly casual utterances. For about one third of Americans the idea of bloodthirsty revolt has become normalized.
There have been sporadic incidents of violence. The 2018 massacre at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue. We have witnessed the violent assault upon Paul Pelosi by an attacker whose real target apparently was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
And yet such talk domestic hostilities has even been echoed radicalized elements of the religious right. In May 2020 Opus Dei priest C.John McCloskey wrote:
“The final short and relatively bloodless conflict produced our Regional States of North America. The outcome was by no means an ideal solution but it does allow Christians to live in states that recognize the natural law and divine Revelation, the right of free practice of religion, and laws on marriage, family, and life that reflect the primacy of our Faith. With time and the reality of the ever-decreasing population of the states that worship at the altar of "the culture of death," perhaps we will be able to reunite and fulfill the Founding Fathers of the old United States dream to be "a shining city on a hill.”
Such belligerent advocacy cloaked in strident religious garb has only accelerated. As Fred Clarkson recently reported on statements uttered by N.A.R. Prophet Amanda Grace, a featured speaker on 2021 featured speaker roster of Michal Flynn’s ongoing ReAwaken America Tour:
Walnau is just one of many who foresee violence. Last year, Prophet Amanda Grace, for example, blew a shofar to open a ReAwaken event, explaining,
“When the shofar was blown, the walls of Jericho fell. When the shofar was blown, Gideon and an army of 300 men defeated over 147,000 Midianities. It’s an announcement to the enemy that his stronghold is about to fall. Demons tremble at the sound of the shofar.”
She said the shofar is “a weapon of our warfare. And when we blow it, the power of God comes full force into that situation.”
But have these would-be Robespierres fully contemplated the likely outcomes of such action? Probably not. So, let’s consider what is reasonably foreseeable.
Resulting Dystopia
Erasmus, the Dutch Humanist (1466 – 1536), captured the shortsightedness of those calling for such violent action. He observed, “War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.” His words are especially true of those whose heads are filled with romantic notions of war without giving thought to its consequences.
I ask my friends that advocate civil war, are you ready to kill your friends and family? Do you have the wherewithal to pull the trigger on your neighbor, your bowling partner, your niece nephew or your own son or daughter?
Are you ready for the disruption of basic services such as water supply, fuel and mail delivery? The supply chain problems that will occur will be astronomical. There will be no groceries on store shelves and banking will come to a halt. Employment will be disrupted. Are you prepared for those consequences? Famine, homelessness and disease are civil war’s close companions.
Are you prepared to take responsibility for the rape, the massacres, the tortures and other atrocities that accompany every such conflict? If you don’t believe me, just recall such incidents in the 1990s in Rwanda and in the Balkans. Just take a look at what Russian soldiers are perpetrating on Ukrainian civilians in the present day.
War is a very ugly thing. It unleashes forces that once let loose of their restraints create unspeakable horrors. The veneer of civilization is quickly removed and ordered norms of decency quickly dissipate.
So my friends, think long and hard about what civil war will bring about. If anything, it runs contrary to our better angels.
Sage Advice From The Past.
I will close this essay with a lesson from our common American heritage. As Abraham Lincoln explained to an earlier group of would-be insurrectionists:
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it.
He closed with this plea:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Lincoln’s words are just relevant today as they were in 1861, perhaps more so.
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.
Frank L. Cocozelli is the author of the forthcoming book, “Commissar Conservatives: How Laissez-faire Libertarianism Is Disturbingly Similar to Communism.”