Arming the rebels will be highly profitable, it will be seen as an “opportunity” by entrepreneurs.

Of course, selling the Indians repeating rifles didn’t necessarily mean they were going to win.

I’d often wondered why Adam Smith is no longer quoted by Conservatives. It just goes to show you there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Capitalism; its capitalists who are fucked up. Smith understood that, modern Conservatives either do not, or are determined to make sure no one else does.

That doesn’t seem to be a true “Civil War” , though the spoils and outcome are very similar. It could be peacefully concluded by voters, were they only able to see the real issues and the consequences of their votes. The Kool-Aid they so eagerly drink is masterfully disguised as their own self-interest.

This phase of the “war” has been lost. I saw yesterday a statement that 0.1% of the people in the US own almost 90% of the property. As has been said before, we have an oligarchy. Done deal.

As the economic screws tighten, the next phase will be the true “Civil War”, violent, bloody, fought against the government, military and mercenaries. That may take a while, and may even be impossible to win. There is encouragement in Iraq and Afghanistan, as lower tech insurgencies have shown how to fight a very high-tech military to a standstill. However, we don’t know what the world will look like then. Getting resupplied might be a problem.

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2013/11/liberals-you-must-reclaim-adam-smith.html

No wonder today’s “libertarians” — all-too caught up in the hallucinatory web spun by Rand and Rothbard and by Koch-financed “think tanks” like Heritage and Cato — never refer anymore to the “First Liberal” and the founder of true libertarianism. Because Adam Smith would remind them that the real foe of enterprise has — for 6000 years — been owner-oligarchy and monopoly. The very forces that are rigging our elections and subsidizing propaganda that has driven a third of our neighbors crazy, re-igniting the American Civil War. So crazy, they proclaim that only government bureaucrats can harm capitalism, enterprise or freedom.

And if they do this action simply to hamstring the President, to make him look bad, to appear helpless and powerless, to embarrass and humiliate him, to cause problems for the nation that can then be blamed on him so that he will be weakened and not elected again, or to simply discredit his party and political philosophy, that it is not tantamount to treason?

And if they continue these activities even after he is re-elected, in the hope that no one in his party will be able to succeed him legally, that is not the same as terrorism?

In a democracy one expects the loyal opposition to occasionally object to some actions of the other side, and do what they can to obstruct them. But when every single action and policy is opposed and frustrated, even those which in the past the opposition supported, that it is not clearly an attempt to throw the nation into chaos so they can assume power? That sure sounds like Civil War to me.

The Republicans have attempted to cancel the selection of a new Supreme Court Justice because they believe they can pick a more acceptable one themselves. They are not denying the President his choice by voting him down, which is their right, but which will be an action with political consequences. They simply expect him to not act at all, or to ignore him if he does. They may change their mind because of outrage by the American people, but the fact remains, they actually proposed this action, and if they think they can get away with it, they will still do it. This is not all that different from dissolving a parliament, or cancelling an election.
Its rebellion and insurrection, and the bloodshed will not be far behind. If they encounter determined resistance, they will have nothing to lose.

After all, the President they hate is going to be gone in less than a year, these actions are not aimed solely at him. They are aimed at everyone who voted for him or who supports him and his policies and philosophy.

I guess you could call it “regime change”. We already know they believe they’re entitled to do it to other countries, why shouldn’t they believe they have the obligation to do it to us. They really do believe we are illegitimate, they actually believe they are taking THEIR country back from usurpers. They tell themselves that every day, and we’d better listen.

We got through that. No one was talking about Civil War.

You’re right. Maybe they feel there’s no need to have a Civil War.

We may have a constitutional crisis, but not yet. And Trump can’t get elected (but Bush did, twice) and either of the other guys would have to satisfy the Tea Party.
Obama cleaned up the Bush financial mess just as Clinton cleaned up the Bush financial mess. The country cannot afford another financial Looting by Conservatives just yet. A democrat needs to stay in office to prevent the Conservative excesses which have been so very costly and have cost the US supremacy among world powers. We simply don’t have the clout we used to have, which is hard to believe if one reads only US publications.

We are going to face some trying times, I agree. I don’t think we’re going to face anything close to the brink of a Civil War. Too many of us, when push comes to shove, love our country, warts and all. And the warts are ugly.

Now, it may get bad, and may seem gloomy. And there may be a Constitutional crisis, and the Supreme Court may divide 4 – 4. In that case current law prevails. But I can help but think that if it gets that far, one of the Conservative justices will break for the liberals.

But we sure as hell need a Democrat for POTUS. We cannot take another financial beating like the last two we got from Conservatives.

That’s it, so far.

Now things could change. We could have the military refuse to recognize POTUS as CIC. That would be a crisis. We could have Texas try to secede. That would also be a crisis. We could have the Tea Party try to block every Obama nomination. That would not be quite the crisis, and would not threaten the Union.

But so far, as to what has happened, there is no Civil War, no threat to the Constitution, no threat to the Union, just the death of a Justice and predictable, understandable rhetoric from irresponsible politicians.

That doesn’t seem to rise to the level of a Civil War.

Now having to readjust my mental image of you.

Seriously Bows, what gives?

I like David Brin, but his rhetoric is jarring to this moderate conservative. I do not listen to conservative talk radio or read any of their rags, so I admit I could be completely out of my depth in understanding.

I do have conversations with people daily who are much further right than me. Most are appalled at Malheur. They have not seen this as a part of their own movement. In one case I have heard sympathy expressed for the cause, but I think he is an outlier.

On Supreme Court appointees, I’m not seeing much vitriol if Obama were to do his duty. In fact he is obligated to do it, and most voting conservatives will recognize that. If a decent person can’t be nominated because of congress, then, yeah its gonna be ugly and the GOP will have to take their medicine on election day. The GOP hasn’t learned anything from their attempts to shut down the govt over Obamacare, and I doubt they will learn from this either. (Not fun to be a moderate conservative these days.)

As for Donald Trump, there is more people for him than I’m comfortable with. Actually, its downright scary. Cruz is sailing in as the antiTrump, but if Rubio were to gain momentum in the near future he has a chance of toppling Cruz of that honor. With somebody actually likable in 2nd place, hopefully conservatives will come to their senses and Trump will decline. Maybe I’m just wishing.

The country survived Obama, the country will survive Hillary, Sanders, or Trump (ok maybe not Trump). We aren’t at war yet, just hot under the collar.