Oct 31 2008
Second American Civil War?
It appears that a Huffington Post blogger, Erica Jong, has come out in an interview proclaiming that there will be a second American Civil War should Obama lose the election. The story has been picked up by several blogs, but no media outlets that I’m aware of at the moment (with the exception of the New York Observer, seen here ). Here is a particularly poignant quote from the interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera:
“If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it’s not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets.”
Now I don’t know if I buy all the stuff about troops being pulled back to fight in the streets. However, I will say that I have read similar thoughts and fears in many online forums over the past few months. The real problem is the fact that if somehow Obama does lose after being so far ahead in the polls, there will be a cry of foul play, which could lead to violence in some areas. Of course, on the other side of the same coin, there are fears that should Obama be elected, white supremacy groups would ratchet up their attempts to take him out to the next level.
So what does all of this speculation mean? It means that come Tuesday, November 4, 2008, we’re all in for a wild ride.
5 Responses to “Second American Civil War?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
If Obama loses after being ahead for so long, of course people are going to think back to the hanging chads. And of course people will feel that there has been skullduggery. And that will probably be true. The level of Republican discourse in this election has been at the gutter…why should anyone expect them to be fair, rational people now? Go to any Republican website and you will see who is backing McCain…the wild, looney fringe of the right. I pray for President Obama, and I pray for the rational people, both Democrats and Republicans, in this country.
Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts! While I agree that the Republican campaign has been less than sterling, I’m not ready to sing the praises of “president” Obama just yet. I really think the loser in this race, no matter who wins, is the American people.
I think Americans could win, but only if Obama wins. He’ll have to win big to be accepted, but if he wins, the US will also win. The Republican election campaign has been a joke with too much mudslinging and not enough issue-based real discussion. The democrats have tried to bring people together to work for a better future, the republicans have continued the same path of destructive negativity. The American people who will lose with Obama are those who want a better life but don’t want to take responsibility for it. Obama is saying he’ll fix the government, and put the framework into place, but the people have to step forward and do their bit - and isn’t that what America’s supposed to be about? American under McCain/Palin, I think it would be worse than it is now, they couldn’t even run a good campaign never mind the USA.
Katie,
When I say Americans lose, what I mean by that is that regardless of whether a Democrat wins or a Republican wins, neither one has a clue how to fix the economy. It’s not a matter of printing more fiat currency, it’s not a matter of socializing or nationalizing or bailing out banks, business and whoever else we decide to (call it what you want, Govt. interests in any kind of business is socialism - and yes, our current socialist / welfare condition was embarked upon by FDR and the great new deal).
The financial system itself is broken. It needs an overhaul. Let’s be honest - if any one individual in this country ran their household finances the way the government has over the past 100 years (I’ll give credit to Clinton - he’s the only President in my lifetime to have actually paid some on the national debt - not just the interest), we would be forced into bankruptcy court and all of our assets would be confiscated to pay for our bad debts! Continuing to do something of this magnitude simply won’t work, and while Obama talks big about reducing the deficit, he has so many social programs and people he wants to help, I simply don’t see how he can do it.
The current financial system needs an overhaul and the market needs to be allowed to adjust. If we continue to prop up artificial pricing and business structures, we will still see a collapse. The longer we wait the worse it will be.
I think to give a clear answer, you’d have to have paid close attention to the people the candidates surround themselves with concerning the economy. John McCain has enlisted one of the architects of the financial disaster in Phil Gramm, his chief economic advisers have been corporate welfare queen Carly Fiorina who all but sunk HP, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who shilled for AIG, and he looks to Alan Greenspan for advice. Alan Greenspan, who admitted he had no idea what he was doing regarding the financial system he created.
Contrast that with Barack Obama who elected to meet and work with Warren Buffet, Paul Volcker, Richard Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Paul O’Neil, and Laura Tyson.
As far as the “social programs”, many of them can be paid for by eliminating the unnecessary bureaucracies created by the Bush Administration, others are volunteer based, and other still would come from a revitalized economy that focuses on rewarding American companies by encouraging them to hire Americans instead of going overseas.