SABRmetrics Guru Bill James: America Headed Towards Civil War
replyall.me
replyall.me
We could be drifting toward civil war. If the political process stops working, it will result in a civil war, as it has resulted in a civil war thousands of times over the course of centuries. And our political process is not working very well at this time.
Brinksmanship is a dangerous game, and Obama seems keen on playing it. In this particular instance, the "shutdown" was a matter of Obama's "all or nothing" strategy (facilitated by Reid et al), refusing to fund the government if everyone were allowed the same healthcare-compliance extensions which the well-connected received. In general, the "Left" is adamant about deep control of all social/political/economic issues, and the "Right" is adamant about individual liberty to do as one sees fit; this is becoming brinksmanship as each side struggles to get their way, and a distressing number are concluding that this system is about to stop working the way James predicts.
For what it's worth -- I followed up yesterday with Bill by email and he said the following:
"Our political problems are more serious than most people are willing to admit. You look back at history, at nations that are careening into civil war--that is, at the US in 1850, at Kosovo in 1996, at England in 1642, at Rome in 60 BC or 90 BC--and you ALWAYS find that people don't take seriously the POSSIBILITY that they could be creating the conditions of a civil war, until something happens that they didn't expect, and . ..BOOM. . .all of a sudden it is too late to stop it. So what I am trying to say to the country, as best I am able to from my relatively small podium, is "take seriously the damage that you MAY be doing." You don't see a civil war coming. . .well, nobody ever sees a Civil War coming; that's why they happen. Nobody sees it until it is too late."