[Publius]

I wasn't referring to this thread, but to FR.

Last week a FReeper talked about VP Cheney and the military seizing control if we have another contested election in 2008.

Over the years I've seen FReepers sound confident that the military would disobey orders from the government to take a stand with "righteous Christians" in a second civil war.

It's insanity. And it's this eagerness from both sides that has me worried.

[khnyny]

John Titor anyone?

Not that I believe Mr. Titor (or whomever), but it seems this whole idea of a CW in America’s future is not new.

[JillValentine]

I agree about the eagerness issue - it’s insane for anyone to actually WANT a civil war, considering how bloody our first one was, and that the second will likely be even worse.

As for where the military would put its loyalty, in 1936 Spain and 1973 Chile, they did turn against their respective governments. Then again, there are other cases where the military stood by a liberal regime. We won’t know until it happens, and hopefully it won’t have to come to that.

[Travis McGee]

Anybody expressing eagerness for a new CW is a fool, I agree with that.

[ctdonath2]

I've seen a poll on a fairly sane-sounding leftist site asking whether Bush will cancel the 2008 elections. I have no idea how the notion came up, and little idea how pervasive it is - but apparently a non-trivial number of people think so.

Indeed, I've seen a lot on both sides looking for a fight - and I've posted as such for a long time. Worth repeating: each side has a language, lingo & banter which defines how they think about the opposition ... and which the opposition cannot comprehend as applicable, relevant, or even parse. Catchy phrases (of dubious accuracy, or even lexical meaning) spread rapidly, people revel in the demonization of their opponents, and reasonable discussion is rejected in favor of shouting matches. There is no sense of engaging others in debate, just a self-reinforcing desire to portray differing views as evil ... with the eventual conclusion that this evil must, of course, be physically eradicated.

Yes, it's happening on both sides. When, at the end of the carnage, someone asks "Why?", remind them that the answer was "because of largely trivial differences."

[r9etb]

It's insanity. And it's this eagerness from both sides that has me worried.

Yes, but considering that the numbers are very small, I'm not it's of more than local importance -- sorta like the "Republic of Texas" folks from a few years back.

FR is a great place, but (like DU) I seriously doubt that it represents anything close to mainstream political views, such as they are.

I'm more inclined to believe that the mainstream will end up rejecting both extremes, and realigning to a centrist party. This election, or the next one, is probably the last gasp of the hideous primary mess that has metastasized over the last 40 years or so.