Is an American Civil War Two a possibility?

[old man emu]

The USA seems to be disintegrating politically due to conflicting beliefs of its people. The current POTUS is seen by some as a buffoon, liar, incompetent and quite possibly suffering from a mental disorder. Others see his as decisive, an effective leader, a patriot and enemy of creeping socialism. Then there is the racial tension, seemingly brought on by unrestrained use of authority by both civil and military law enforcers. This diagram illustrates the various factors in one of these beliefs and how they interact to form political opinion.

 

 

Added to this mix is the cultural belief that personal freedom overrides responsibility to the community and country, and an "every man for himself" attitude. The mixture is a powder keg with the lit taper of the coming Presidential elections hovering over it, with international trade relations acting as the bellows to boost the flames of revolution.

 

There is, of course, the Silent Majority, who, while not enthused to man the barricades, are molded by the culture of the USA and if the powder keg is ignited might feel uninhibited to release their pent up cultural frustrations. In 2021, may well we say, "God bless America", because nothing will save the American people.

[red750]

Here is an email I received regarding the autopsy report on George Floyd. It ws eight pages in length until I reduced the font size and knocked out the double spacing between paragraphs. It was still 4 pages in length, so I saved it as a PDF.

 

Yoou might find it interesting.

 

Food for thought.pdf

 

 

[onetrack]

I'm amazed that the autopsy report was publically released at all, seeing as the man's death is before the courts. But clicking on the link at the bottom of the PDF reveals there's no autopsy report there.

Leading one to think the email is another right-wing "chain email" designed to disseminate patently false and unprovable information. In the words of His Orangeness - "fake news".

 

I used to get a lot of these "sh**-stirring" right-wing extremist chain emails, when I started associating with American forums where the right wing was in a majority.

They rapidly reveal themselves to be full of foamy-mouthed, visceral hatred, for blacks and Hispanics.

 

We even had one guy regularly stating in the chat room, every time he needed to go and do a No 2, that "he was taking Obama to the pool".

Funnily enough, he died in his early 60's from a particularly nasty cancer - and I reckon something particularly nasty was eating at him, all his short life.

Edited August 9, 2020 by onetrack

[Jerry_Atrick]

You beat me to it, OT. All I saw was commentary and no report. I googled and could not find it.. This is poop-stirring... Its this sort of ship that my son picks up on yootoob and I spend an inordinate amount of time explaining to him why it is carp and he should do his own research.

[red750]

14 hours ago, onetrack said:

I'm amazed that the autopsy report was publically released at all, seeing as the man's death is before the courts. But clicking on the link at the bottom of the PDF reveals there's no autopsy report there.

That could be the reason it was taken down, if it was there originally. We won't know.

[Yenn]

I look at Brietbart news. Brietbart is obviously pro trump, but more interesting is to look at the comments sent in about any subject from readers. They appear to all be written by poison pen experts and no matter what the subject it is always denigrating Democrats and glorifying Donald Trump.

Really Brietbart doesn't have to work too hard to make Biden look bad. Biden himself is doing a good job of sabotaging his run for the presidency..

I really worry about the two political parties, how can either of them back the nominees for president?

[old man emu]

It seems that the Democrats (similar politically to our Labor Party) have been the ones to select younger or middle-aged people as Presidential candidates, and the Republicans pick the oldies.

[onetrack]

If the Democrats had half a brain, they would ditch Biden, and go for some fresh blood. But there seems to be a real paucity of people with outstanding leadership capabilities, in every political party in America.

The scene is set for Trump to be re-elected, if only by a slim margin - simply because no-one with any leadership, debating and personal skills, opposes him. 

[Old Koreelah]

That's why so many of us are waiting impatiently for his VP pick: she might nudge him over the line.

[willedoo]

2 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

That's why so many of us are waiting impatiently for his VP pick: she might nudge him over the line.

Also, Biden if he gets elected might only do a part term and pull out for health reasons. So his VP pick might be looked on as a potential President sooner than we think.

[old man emu]

The problem with the US Presidential election is that it is not really a vote by the individual. 

 

Each state has a number of electors in the electoral college proportionate to its population: the sum of its number of senators (always two) and representatives in the House. Technically, Americans on election day cast votes for electors, not the candidates themselves. Each elector in the electoral college is tied to a Party's nominee. That's what makes it so hard for an Independent to win. A candidate needs to win 270 electoral votes - half of the total plus one - to win the White House. Part of a presidential candidate's grand strategy entails drawing a map of states the candidate can and must win to gather 270 electoral votes. In many states the result is a foregone conclusion and there is thus little incentive for the individual to vote. It is also a disincentive for candidates to campaign there. For example, large states California, Illinois and New York are solidly Democratic and Texas is solidly Republican. That's why the "swing States" are so important.

 

California, the most populous state, has 55 electoral votes. A few small states and the District of Columbia have only three. Today, the electoral college has 538 electors, and in all but two states, Maine and Nebraska, all of the state's electors are awarded to the winner of the popular vote within that state.

 

 

 

 

[onetrack]

And you forgot to mention the money - because the politician who can garner the most financial support is the one who wins elections in America. Corporations and super-rich individuals effectively control "democracy" in America.

Since the early 1800's, the political system of America has meant that all politicians are obligated to "men of wealth" - because without their support they would never get elected.

Little wonder there are constant grass-roots moves for campaign finance reform in the U.S. But the chances of that happening, to balance the democracy of their voting system, is about the same chance as you and I walking on the Moon.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_reform_in_the_United_States

Edited August 11, 2020 by onetrack

[old man emu]

 

[Yenn]

OME you cannot be thinking of the current protagonists. Trump is I think about late sixties, while Biden is 78.

The democrats tried to get the first woman president, after achieving the first black president; that didn't work. They now have a vice presidential nominee who is female, black and Asian.

Next time round they will go for the first homosexual president. By their current showing the next president will be a 70s overweight, lying ratbag.

[pmccarthy]

Trump is 74! Biden is four years older. Both well past competence, not because of age but that’s just the way they grew old. Lots of others are sharp at that age. It would be great if one stepped forward.

 

[old man emu]

I often wonder if those in the rarefied atmosphere of politics have ever had any real experience of the life of the common person. It seems to me that a lot of politicians join Young Labor or Young Liberals while in their first year at university, then after graduating go straight into the political machine and never do a day's hard graft for the rest of their lives. Ask a politician the price of a 3-litre bottle of milk at Woolies and all you get back is a lecture on how their party is supporting rural producers to compete on the world economic stage.

 

You have to remember that the US Democrats are the left-of-centre party, and the Republicans are right-of-centre. The Democrats are somewhat for equal opportunity for all, while the Republicans are for equal opportunity for the wealthy.  Both parties have their extreme leftist or rightists, but I believe that the Republicans reflect more of the Puritanism, that survives, perhaps most conspicuously, in the secular form of self-reliance, moral rigor, and political parochialism that became virtually the definition of Americanism.

[Old Koreelah]

15 hours ago, old man emu said:

...You have to remember that the US Democrats are the left-of-centre party, and the Republicans are right-of-centre. The Democrats are somewhat for equal opportunity for all, while the Republicans are for equal opportunity for the wealthy.  Both parties have their extreme leftist or rightists, but I believe that the Republicans reflect more of the Puritanism, that survives, perhaps most conspicuously, in the secular form of self-reliance, moral rigor, and political parochialism that became virtually the definition of Americanism.

A reminder of the widening divide: 

 

[old man emu]

If the Presidential election result becomes the trigger for civil war in the United States, would the likes of ISIS and the Taliban offer aid to the American rebels?

 

It is ironic that the South, the land of the Confederate rebels against the Union, might be the part of the country that fights to maintain the Union against the Northerners rebelling against it.

[onetrack]

The simple fact remains that Trump is a past master of the art of "divide and conquer". He has ensured that he continues to foment strife and dissent, simply because he loves it, and he can manipulate it to keep himself in power.

Trump followers are the people who believe that anyone who doesn't support Trump are Commys, Big Govt believers, bludgers on society, and intent on "taking all our guns away from us".

These are the same people who hold up Australians as pathetic example of "sheeple" who willingly let our Govt take all our guns off us. To them, we are only one step away from a Communist regime with "no freedoms".

I've even had stupid Americans on forums say the Australians cannot own guns any more. That's how dumb these Trump supporters are. 

 

Trump enjoys seeing the blacks revolt - because he simply believes they're revolting bludgers who have no wealth, because they won't work, and they prefer to indulge in crime.

His followers believe they all need to be armed, all the time, because the blacks are going to rob, kill and assault them, at every opportunity. They regale each other with horror stories of blacks invading the peaceful homes of whites and killing them in their beds.

And Trump feeds that paranoia - that the Democrats will take all their guns off them, that the Democrats will give all their wealth to lazy blacks, and they will end up with nothing.

Trump relishes the antagonism he stirs up, because he hates to see calm and agreement and people getting along without divisiveness. A true leader of a Nation unites people, Trump does the exact opposite, and that is why he is a waste of space, as POTUS.

[Marty_d]

30 minutes ago, onetrack said:

and that is why he is a waste of space, as POTUS.

...or anything else.

[Yenn]

But what are you going to do about it?

Should we be writing to our elected reps and telling them that we do not go along with Australia saying yes to everything the Yanks want. Or are we so weak and pathetic that we are frightened of living without the USA backing us up. Not that they would unless it was to their advantage.

[old man emu]

It would take a benevolent dictator to firstly say "Australia,  first, last and every other bloody time"  and to push for the reinvigoration of Australian secondary industries from food processing to heavy manufacture and all those industries in between. Then it would take a dictator with balls the size of Moeraki Boulders to tell the USA and China where to get off.

 

Unfortunately all the letter writing in the world won't bring this about because politicians don't hold the power here. It's the likes of Murdoch and Reinhardt and Packer and Palmer who are the puppet masters. And the puppet strings aren't thin strings, they are thick hawsers, holding the Ship of State where they want it.

 

[facthunter]

Trumps  ability to fool people is well developed. but He's NOT very bright and will cause harm to stay in power. Name calling is for immature Kids playing at being tough . ALL piss and wind. Trouble is He has control of a lot of the world and will be hard to get rid of, but I reckon (and I'm far from being alone) that it's essential that he be convincingly and fairly,   removed. I fear there will be  scenes and actions that we would hope would never happen. You can BLAME Republican opportunism and lack of GUTS for him being there. 3 months to go and literally ANYTHING might happen. Nev