Even so, the consequences of it are still being felt, and if you think something doesn't matter because it's over, you are very much mistaken.
The Civil War created numerous institutions, power blocks, changes in law, and social consequences that are still causing serious damage to the nation today, the latest being "Gay Marriage. (Based on the 14th amendment.)
I believe it is important for people trying to get out of a mess to understand which wrong turn caused them to end up in the mess.
How about stick to the topic - possible FUTURE government action, and what to do or not do about it?
Already discussed some of this. See mine and other's comments about currency and stored value.
I can respect and acknowledge that the 1861-1865 disagreement hasn’t been discussed for a few hours. I wrote what I wrote in response to Post #111 - when said discussion was pretty much still hot and heavy. I was, at that point, pretty sick of the waste of my time in this thread due to that sub-discussion.
As to consequences: Yes, of course they existed and still exist. But (to quote a famous individual), “What, at this point in time, does it matter?” Yeah, I hate that quote, and more so the person who originated it, but that is the truth - we are in the situation that we are in right now, regardless of why. We have to deal with facts on the ground HERE and NOW, and what may or may not have happened several lifetimes ago doesn’t change the here and now. That it is interesting, and that some lessons could be learned from that history, is undoubtedly true - but maybe that should be confined to either a thread about that part of history, or a private message exchange.
Its not that I’ve ever gone off-topic on someone else’s thread - I have - but that there were SO DAMNED MANY posts about the same off-topic subject.