The Decision-time Grows Nearer.
Let us take stock of some recent stories from the mainstream media, reported by the on-line news-outlet, The Hill, which keeps track of all the networks. On October 6th, The Hill reported that Greg Gutfeld, a Fox News reporter, stated on his show that the United States needs a civil war in order to bring peace. Not surprisingly, other broadcasters expressed consternation over Gutfeld's wanting to incite violence, at such a time.
Gutfeld did not help matters when he elaborated on his reasons, even if he feels he is fighting fire with fire:
"This defiant refusal to reverse this decline argues against the survival of a country. What does
that leave you with? It leaves you with the need to make war to bring peace; because you have
a side that cannot change, because that means an admission that their beliefs have been corrupt
all the time; so in a way, you have to force them to surrender."
Not surprisingly, Gutfeld took a great deal of heat for suggesting that an open civil war would lead to peace. Many conservative Republicans groaned over his advocating, not civil disobediance, but open warfare! They have to ask what Gutfeld really has in mind, military conquest? Repeating the September 6th Capitol break-in, or the Antifa riots on a grander scale, until the other side surrenders and gives in to the Republicans?
Enter former State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton. There is no love lost between her and her 2016 presidential opponent Donald Trump. In a fundraister in New York City, she described Trump- supporters as a a "basket of deplorables," characterized by their "racist, sexist, homophobic" views. Now she has come out with something even more polarizing: the suggestion that Trump supporters should undergo government-sponsored psychological deprogramming. Note the smile on the face of the CNN interviewer as she listens to Clinton. Once again, I saw this interview on The Hill.
Not surprisingly, conservative pundits and politicians reacted with shocked surprise, describing it as a return to a "Gulag" type treatment of dissidents. Younger Americans may not remember the book by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, which chronicles the mass-incarceration of Russians by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Countless thousands died in the Gulags, until Stalin himself died in 1953.
The two events involving Gutfeld and Clinton represent a worsening of America's bi-polar disorder. How long it will take Americans to realize that it's not going to get better, unless we do something. If Conservatives like Gutfeld want to wage war against the Left, and if Clinton-Liberals want to incarcerate Conservatives in re-education centers, Than informed people in positions of responsiility say such things should concern us. They understand the knife-edged tension of Democrats and Republicans better than the average citizen, who regards political contests in the same harmless context of a football rivalry. We do not need a rocket-scientist to see the desperation of our leaders to lead the nation more coherently, even to the point of taking aggressive action to subdue the opposition. We should be asking what we need to do to forestall open hostilities?
Gutfeld and Clinton do not talk in terms of toleration and diversity. They want to defeat an enemy. Neither understands that conflict of this kind hurts us all, no matter who wins. Up to now, we have discussed Conservative and Liberal positions in terms of differing political philosophies. Today, many informed people like Gutfeld and Clinto, believe that the disunity harms the stability and security of the country.
Instead of continuing to demonize the other side and threaten repressive measures, we should agree to disagree, then set in motion the first stages of a division. It should enter the daily dialogue of the mainstream media as soon as possible. The differences in philosophical orientation should emphasize "different," not "inimical." Somewhere in the opening dialogue, someone needs to mention that a division will require a government-sponsored referendum.
In the above illustration, we see a mature cell ready to split apart. Each of the emerging cells sports a fully-developed nucleus and other components. Our nation is like that, two restive cells emerging from the ectoplasm that houses them, ready to emerge as independently functioning cells, situated side-by-side. Our nation is over-ripe for a similar division.
